Protecting the Innocence
by Anonymous Skrtle
Summary: Their words are like knives stabbing into my heart. Why couldn't I do anything right? Everyone was right; I was a useless idiot who was worth nothing. Maybe I should just end this. Once and for all.
1. Bullied

_**Chapter 1**_

Carlos Garcia walked through the Palm Woods park, staring down at his dirty sneakers. The white sneakers, now a dark shade of gray, were starting to tear apart. there was a hole on the side of his left sneaker, and the right side of the right sneaker had a little tear in it.

Carlos sighed. He was so bored. Kendall had gone on a romantic lunch date with Jo. The Latino's best friend reserved two seats in the most expensive restaurant in the state. Carlos was amazed at how much money Kendall actually had. Even though Carlos had no idea how much it cost, he knew it was more than it cost to buy some new sneakers.

James had gone out to pursue a modeling job. He wanted to move on from having a famous elbow. He wanted 'The Face' to be on the covers of every fashion magazine. Even the girl fashion magazines. Carlos had no idea how James could care so much about himself, but somehow, he kind of expected it.

And Logan had gone to some genius medical class. Logan was well over Phoebe Nachee and how she insulted him, and boys in general. Logan was so sure that after Big Time Rush, he would become a doctor. He was the top student in the class, and the teacher said he had a 100 percent average. Logan would have no problem fulfilling his dream if he finished the class with that same average.

Carlos wondered why he wasn't as romantic as Kendall, as pretty and handsome as James, or as smart as Logan. Carlos had never had girlfriend before. Well, other than that time Kendall and Jo... Carlos tried to shake that out of his head. Candy and Megan were out of his life now. Stephanie had a new boyfriend name Daniel. Carlos could tell Daniel was much better looking than he was. Not that Stephanie ever _was_ Carlos's girlfriend. And Carlos had never attracted girls because of his looks, or stuff like that. His helmet ruined his hair, and every day he watched James's brush his _perfect_ hair. Carlos had never even seen an A+, ever, on any of his worksheets, either. There were only few times where he got an A. So he obviously wasn't smart, either.

Then what _was _he? _I hate it when everyone thinks I'm just a-_ Carlos thought, but was interrupted when he tripped over something. Carlos yelped in surprise, and turned back to see what had tripped him. What he saw made him shudder in fear.

It was Clyde Benton. He was the biggest bully in the Palm Woods school. Clyde loved to bully others; it was like a hobby for him. And since Carlos was almost a whole foot shorter than Clyde, _and_ was a Latino, he was a perfect target for this stupid bully. Clyde had tripped Carlos over with a baseball bat. Clyde smirked, an amused look on his face.

"Hey, Carlos. What's up?" He sneered at him. Carlos wanted to curl up and die right there. Clyde was just so... _mean,_ and Carlos was just so vulnerable without his three best friends.

"N-nothing." Carlos stuttered. He wanted to fight back, but he just couldn't. One, he was such a wimp he would never fight someone back. Two, Clyde would smash him into pieces if he ever got into a fight with him.

"Where are your hockey playing buddies?" Clyde continued, his cruel smirk never leaving his face. Carlos was so scared. Usually, Clyde was scared away by Kendall and James, and sometimes maybe Logan when he was equipped with weapons, but Clyde was never scared of Carlos. But now, Kendall and James and Logan were not here at all.

When Carlos didn't answer, Clyde pulled him up by his shirt. "_Where are they_, wimp?" It was more of a demand than a question.

"N-not here." Clyde quickly put Carlos down, and smiled to himself.

"Good. So you're all by yourself, huh?" Carlos just nodded meekly. Clyde kicked him in the shin. Hard. Carlos bit his lip, trying to keep from whimpering. He didn't want Clyde to get that satisfaction of hearing him in pain.

"You're not gonna fight back, are you? Well, I know why. Cause you're the size of my little 8 year old brother! I could kill you in one single blow!" Clyde bragged. Carlos just tried to block out the sound of Clyde laughing. It was a horrible noise. Tears pricked in his eyes, but Carlos tried to not let them fall. He was such a wimp. A wimp who couldn't even fight back.

"P-please, just l-let me g-g-go." Carlos whispered quietly. He couldn't take this anymore. Why did it only happen to _him?_ What about his friends? Why was _he _the only always getting pushed around?

"Aww. Are you crying? Oh, I'm _so sorry,_ I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. What I meant is to hurt you more than that!" Clyde said mockingly. Tears streamed down Carlos's face, and he wasn't even _that_ humiliated that he was crying anymore. He just hoped with his whole heart that this would stop soon.

Clyde shoved Carlos back into a huge rock. The sharp part of the stone dug into Carlos's back. Carlos screamed in pain. His hand reached for his back, and when he drew it back, he saw red liquid streaming down it. His back was bleeding. Carlos felt his vision start blurring. The world started turning around him. Clyde punched him in the face, and Carlos saw stars blurring his vision even more. He could feel his eye start to swell up.

"All you are is just a Mexican idiot who can't even reach the top of your bookshelf." Clyde taunted him.

"I-I'm not M-mexican, I-I'm-"

Clyde hit Carlos right shoulder with the metal baseball bat. Carlos whimpered, and tried to stop the pain. But the baseball bat just kept on coming back down. Again and again. In the same place. Carlos tried to stop it from coming back down, but he couldn't. He tripped over a rock, and sat on the ground helplessly.

"Please, C-clyde, j-just stop i-it!" Carlos begged desperately. Suddenly, Clyde _did_ stop.

"You're just an idiot wearing a stupid black hockey helmet. You're _nothing_ without your three 'friends'. They're probably so sick of you, they ditched you to do other things." Carlos started sobbing even harder. Was that really true? Did his friends hate him? Were they so fed up with him that they found an excuse to get away from him?

"All you are is a useless piece of crap who doesn't know anything!" Clyde laughed sadistically and was about to swing his bat down on Carlos's head.

"Hey! Stop hitting him!" Carlos heard someone's voice. _James_. Was he just dreaming, or was James really here to help him? Clyde dropped his bat, and turned around cautiously.

"What are you _doing_?" James said, gritting his teeth together. Clyde just put his hands up innocently.

"I'm hitting your buddy with a bat. Got a problem with that?" Clyde smirked. James felt his body stiffen and fill with anger. James clenched his fist together and it met up with Clyde's face. Clyde dropped to the ground, unconscious. James ran over to where Carlos was lying. Carlos whimpered softly and groaned when he felt pain everywhere on his body.

"its okay, Carlitos. He's gone forever." James reassured the crying boy. Carlos sniffled and wiped his eyes with his bloody hand.

"James, he h-hit me over and o-over again with that... _thing_..." Carlos ended up sobbing and whimpering all over again. James hugged him and put his hands on Carlos's shaking shoulders.

A few minutes later, Carlos stopped crying. His face was red from all the crying and sobbing he'd been doing.

"Carlos, can you get up?" James asked gently. When Carlos nodded hesitantly, James gently pulled him up. Carlos gasped from the pain and leaned against James's shoulder.

"I'll call Kendall, and come have him pick us up." But before James's could press the 'call' button, Carlos stopped him.

"James, I'm fine. I can w-walk by mys-self." Carlos told him confidently. James sighed, and gave in. It was hard to say no to a boy who was bleeding through his shirt.

The walk home seemed like days, even though it was probably just a few minutes. When they got home, James cleaned all of Carlos's cuts, and took care of them the best he could.

"When Logie comes back, he can clean them better." James told Carlos, who was still sniffling and blowing his nose.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you, man." James apologized. He felt guilt fill his body. His little brother was almost _killed_ because no one was there to protect him. It was all because of his stupid modeling job... this was all his fault.

"It's not your fault, James. It's Clyde's fault." James winced at the name, his fists automatically clenching together again.

"James?" Carlos opened his closed eyes tiredly. His one black eye was halfway closed.

"Yeah buddy?" James asked, concern suddenly showing in his eyes.

"Thanks for protecting me." James smiled and patted Carlos's black hockey helmet softly.

"No problem, Carlitos. I'd do anything for you." But Carlos was already asleep, his head on James's shoulder.


	2. Comfort

_**Chapter 2**_

"James! What happened?" Kendall and Logan came storming into the apartment. Carlos was covered in white cloth, and none of it helped. James's horrible doctor skills was reflected on Carlos's appearance at that moment.

"Uh... Carlos got beat up by someone. I tried to stop the bleeding, but..." Logan didn't hear the rest of it. He got his first aid kits out, and replaced the poorly wrapped bandages. Carlos stirred suddenly, but then he resumed sleeping peacefully and James's shoulder.

"Should we wake him?" Kendall whispered quietly. James white V-neck was now soaked with Carlos's red blood. James winced at the sight. Kendall almost passed out. Blood made him sick. It was so... well, he couldn't really describe it. All he knew was that he hated blood.

"No, just let him sleep, if that's okay with you, James?" James just nodded, wrapping his arms around his younger friend.

Kendall sighed, looking out the window, the table, his shoes; anywhere other than the blood. "Was it Clyde Benton again? That idiot, I swear I'll beat him up someday..." Kendall's fists clenched up in anger.

"Kendall, violence is never the answer. Clyde's just... different. We gotta accept him for who he is." Logan pointed out softly. Kendall stared at Logan with a disbelieving look.

"How can you say that? Clyde's different, yeah, but he's _bad_ different. We can't just accept him! We have to change him!" Kendall shouted. He felt anger boiling inside him. How could Logan be so... stupid? He was supposed to be the smartest one here.

"Kendall, you can't change someone. You just have to accept them, even if you don't want to." Logan said calmly, but his fists clenched up, too.

"You know what? I'm sick of you always-" Kendall started, but was interrupted as someone called his name.

"Kendall?" It was Carlos. Kendall sighed and gave Logan a glare that said "This isn't over yet..." kinda thing.

"What's up Carlos? How ya feeling?" Kendall forced the brightness in his voice, but Carlos didn't seem to notice.

"Um... okay. It was just so s-cary, Kendall." Carlos voice broke, and James held him as he cried. Logan sat on the table in front of them, looking up at the ceiling. What was it that Kendall had almost said to him? _Well, it doesn't matter now, because he's a stupid no brain freak!_ Logan gritted his teeth and tried to calm the anger building up inside him. How _dare_ Kendall think that hurting someone back was okay? Just because Clyde was stupid, it didn't mean Kendall had to be like that, too.

James was scared and somewhat curious. What had Clyde said to Carlos that made him so vulnerable? He didn't want to ask, afraid that it would break his little friend. Carlos had always been the youngest out of all of them, and James hated seeing him cry.

Kendall still felt angry at Logan. But, surprisingly, he felt a strange calmness inside of him. Carlos needed him right now, and Logan didn't. So Kendall put Logan and his insanity to the back of his mind, and focused on Carlos.

"Wanna talk about it, bud?" Kendall said gently, handing Carlos a tissue. Carlos took it gratefully, and wiped it over his eyes and nose.

_You're nothing without you're three 'friends'... you're nothing..._ Carlos tried to shake away the harsh words Clyde had told him that caused him so much pain. But he couldn't. His eyes filled up with salty tears, and Carlos couldn't keep them in.

"He called me n-nothing. He said that y-you guys hated m-me so much you w-w-went to do other th-things." Carlos whispered softly, sniffling twice. The other three boys glanced at each other. Well, Logan and Kendall avoided each others' eyes. They all felt so guilty. This happened because they weren't there for Carlos. Now Kendall would rather have cancelled his date with Jo and have her hate him forever, than see Carlos cry like this. James would rather have gotten fired from his job than see Carlos in pain. Logan would have quit his academic class than to see Carlos crying. Carlos and crying didn't go together. Carlos was always happy, without a care in the world.

"Dude! Don't listen to him! We would never hate you!" James immediately said, his voice full of guilt.

"Yeah! He's just jealous you have so many awesome friends and he doesn't." Logan pointed out.

"Carlos, who cares what other people say? You're the most awesome person _I_ know! Everyone in the Palm Woods loves you except for that racist Clyde Benton kid!" Kendall told him, grinning from ear to ear.

Carlos looked up with puffy red eyes. "Really?" he managed to get out. James, Logan, and Kendall nodded vigorously. Did everyone else really like him? That statement made Carlos happy again, and he laughed. The other three boys couldn't have been happier to hear that sound from Carlos again.

The Latino buried his face in the crook of James's neck. "Sorry for getting your shirt all bloody." Carlos said, his voice muffled.

"It's okay, buddy. No problem." James smiled.

Suddenly, there was a boom of thunder. Carlos whimpered and looked out the window. "There's a s-storm outs-side, guys." He told them. Kendall quickly pulled the shades down. He knew that Carlos _and_ Logan hated storms.

"It's just a storm, Carlitos. It'll be over in..." Logan trailed off, calculating the time it would take for the storm to stop mentally.

Just then, Kendall gasped. He pulled the shades back up. And right there was the bright sun, with no trace of dark clouds anywhere. And right next to it was a beautiful rainbow.

"That was the shortest storm in L.A. history! The shortest storm before this was 5.8 m-" The guys groaned, shutting Logan up.

"Wow..." Carlos breathed, completely mystified. "The rainbow's so pretty..." The others laughed and nodded in agreement. It was beautiful indeed. They all stared outside the glass window for the rest of the afternoon, knowing that nothing would go wrong again that day, as long as they were staring at this beautiful rainbow.

Little did they know that there was another storm brewing. But this one wouldn't end with sunshine and rainbows. This one wasn't even going to be a literal storm. It was going to be a storm in another way.


	3. Folder Mixup

_**Chapter 3**_

Logan Mitchell was as happy as ever. Today was the beginning of the last week of medical school, and Logan still had a perfect A+ average. He tried his hardest. Some of the stuff took him hours, and sometimes he stayed up till really late at night, memorizing medicines and diseases for the test the next day. Other stuff usually took minutes, and was really easy for Logan.

Humming one of their new biggest hits, 'Worldwide', Logan packed up all of his stuff, ready for another day of the interesting medical class. As he was zipping up his backpack, he thought of the day before.

_"Class! Tomorrow, the last homework assignment will be turned in. This is worth 15 percent of you grade. The student with the highest grade average by the end of tomorrow will get a scholarship to medical school." _

_ The class cheered. Logan knew he was going to be the highest. He had been working on this last project for such a long time. Such a long time..._

_ The only kid in Logan's class who had a 98 percent average was Billy Manger. But obviously, Logan would beat him. The only way he would get the scholarship is if Logan got a zero on his final project. Which wasn't going to happen. Logan was 99.999% sure of it. You could never be sure of something 100%, was his theory._

_ Logan glanced over at Billy. He was a calm, patient, nice guy who Logan really enjoyed. Billy looked over at Logan and made a face that said 'I'm gonna win the scholarship! Not you!' _

_ Well, maybe he _wasn't_ so nice after all. Logan just shrugged and glared back. He was going to get a perfect score on that project; he was sure of it._

Speaking of the project, Logan didn't know where he put it. But he had a clue as to who _might_ know.

"Carlos! Where's my medical project?" Logan shouted. He heard a muffled reply, but couldn't understand what Carlos had said. Logan sighed and ran into Carlos's and James's room.

"It's over here, Logie!" Carlos called over his shoulder, holding out the folder. Logan winced at the sight of Carlos's black eye. He hated looking at it, because he couldn't do anything about it. It just had to heal slowly. No medicine right now could cure it magically.

Logan grabbed the plastic red folder, muttered a quick 'thanks', and quickly left the room. Stuffing the folder carefully in his backpack, Logan rushed out the door and ran to the parking lot. He started up the BTR Mobile, and quickly pulled out of the Palm Woods.

_Back at Apartment 2J..._

Carlos sighed and plopped himself onto his bed. It felt so soft and warm. Carlos smiled up at the ceiling thinking about how everything was working out. Logan was going to get his scholarship. The one he'd been working so hard for the past few weeks.

The day before, Logan had told Carlos to put his project in one folder, and his research in the other. Carlos lifted up the other red folder, the one with Logan's research in it. He studied it.

Carlos was confused. The paper didn't look like research at all. Logan even had his name printed on it. Carlos gasped in horror as the realization sunk in. Logan took the wrong folder. He took the one with the research in it, and he left the project at home! Carlos grabbed the folder and tried to catch up to Logan. He pressed the elevator button, but found that it was too slow. Carlos ran down the flight of stairs, into the lobby, and out to the parking lot.

"Looggggaannn!" He called out loudly, drawing some attention. Carlos arrived at the parking lot just as the BTR mobile pulled out and drove away. Carlos sat on the ground and sighed. _Darn, so close!_ He thought sadly. What was Logan going to do? This was going to ruin his dreams and all his hard work.

"What's up, Carlos?" Carlos looked up and saw Logan's girlfriend, Camille. Carlos could never tell if she was acting or not. But right now, Carlos could tell that she wasn't rehearsing for any parts of a movie or TV show.

"You." Carlos muttered quietly, making Camille laugh.

"You know, you are so adorable sometimes. Why are you sitting on the ground, _and_ holding Logan's red folder?" Camille asked curiously. Carlos told her the whole story.

"Oh no oh no oh no _oh no_..." Camille cried. "Logie's gonna be _so_ depressed now! He might even break up with me!" Carlos rolled his eyes at her dramatic attitude.

"Dude, chill. Logie wouldn't get _that_ mad over something like this." Carlos reassured Camille. Camille just shrugged and helped Carlos up.

"Well, tell him that I had nothing to do with this; he can blame this all on his own carelessness, and maybe you!" Camille said playfully, and quickly left. Carlos followed after her a few minutes later, back into his apartment. He couldn't tell if Camille was joking or not.

_Back to Logan Mitchell..._

"But, Mr. Gurt, I swear I had it with me today!" Logan said desperately, triple checking the red folder. But he had to face the truth. He grabbed the wrong folder. Actually, _Carlos_ gave him the wrong one.

"Logan, if you didn't bring it, it's an automatic zero. And, you're not allowed to swear in this classroom." Logan blinked back his tears. This could _not_ be happening right now. The word 'zero' echoed through his devastated brain. _Zero, zero zero..._

"Please just give me one more chance! I'll give it to you tomorrow, I promise!" Logan begged.

Mr. Gurt shook his head. "I'm so sorry, Logan, but school rules say no." Logan just sighed, wiping a frustrated tear from his face. He sat back down and looked at his desk. Everyone was staring at him, and he suddenly found the little doodle of the UFO on his desk very intriguing.

Then, the next moment, everything was happening so fast. The scholarship was given to Billy Manger. The satisfied smirk on the selfish jerk's face was directed at Logan. Logan just glared back, his body filling with sadness... and a little bit anger. This could _not_ be happening!

Then, all that processed through Logan's mind was one word. _No._

_Later that day..._

Logan walked into Apartment 2J, dragging his feet. Carlos looked up from the funny TV show he was watching. He hoped Logan wasn't too mad at what happened. But Carlos knew Logan didn't get mad often. But this was something big; something really _really_ big for him. If Carlos was in his position, he would be angry, too.

"Hey, Logie." Carlos said hesitantly, after the agonizing minutes of silence. Logan just stared at his friend with a blank expression.

"You know, don't you?" Logan said suddenly. Carlos could just nod, not knowing where this conversation was going.

"But I tried to chase you, Logan, but you already pulled out of the parking lot and then- " Logan suddenly slammed his hand on the table he was sitting at.

"If you had just given me the right folder, then none of this would have happened!" Logan shouted angrily. He didn't even know where all this anger was coming from. All he knew was that he had to get it out of his body.

"But I couldn't tell until this morning! I-"

"Because you didn't look at it carefully enough!" Logan said calmly.

"Yeah, but how was-"

"How could you be so _stupid?_" Logan shouted angrily. Carlos took a few steps backwards, away from where Logan was. That was his least favorite word. Ever.

"I'm not stupid!" Carlos protested. Logan just glared back at him.

"Yes you are!" Carlos's eyes filled with tears at that statement, but Logan didn't feel like he cared at all.

"Could you _not_ see that the research didn't have my name on it, and had colors and pictures _all over it?_ The project I did actually had the words 'Logan Mitchell' written on it! How could you _not see _that?"

"I'm sorry, Logie-"

Logan stood up from his chair, pushing it to the ground. "Don't call me that anymore! I'm not friends with imbeciles like you!" Logan took a deep breath.

"And if you don't know what an imbecile is, it means a stupid person!" Logan reached over and pushed Carlos as hard in he could. Then he walked away, back into his room.

Carlos whimpered as he fell to the ground, hard. He vision spun for a few seconds, then returned to normal. He had a welt on his side from where he had landed on something sharp. It was purple and somewhat blue, and really red. But it wasn't bleeding, Carlos just rubbed it a few times.

"Ow." He whispered softly. How could Logan say that to him? Carlos could feel tears forming in his eyes again. He was such a sensitive baby. Why did Logan's words affect him so much? It really _hurt_ when Logan called him stupid and an im... imbe... well, whatever that word was that meant a stupid person. Maybe he _was _stupid. After all, if he hadn't been so dumb and messed up the folders, then Logan wouldn't have gotten a zero on it. This _was_ all his fault. Why did he mess up all the time? Why couldn't he do something right for once?

Carlos walked towards Logan's bedroom door and knocked twice.

"Carlos, go away!" Logan shouted. Carlos took a step back and sighed.

"But Logie, I said I'm sorry. I-"

"Go away! I hate you! Just don't talk to me anymore!" Logan shouted angrily. That felt like a slap to the face to Carlos. Logan hated him. He _hated_ him. Carlos walked away, tears running down his face.

The fact that Logan Mitchell, his best friend since kindergarten, hated him, scared Carlos and made him feel unwanted. Logan hated him, just like Clyde Benton hated him, too.

**A/N- Thank you SO much for all the positive, awesome reviews! Please tell me what you think about this chapter! I'll try to update soon depending on how much you guys like this story! **

**Just to tell you, I have LOTS of angst and... other stuff planned for this story! I don't really see lots of Carlos angst stories out there, so yeah... I'm just adding another one to the equation! **

**So, once again, I love you all! (in a totally friendly way!) I'll try and update soon!**


	4. KO

_**Chapter 4**_

Carlos woke up the next day, happy and eager for another day to begin. Until he remembered yesterday's events. Him and Logan fighting. Carlos felt his heart fall at the memory.

Carlos brushed his teeth, took a quick shower, and went out to the kitchen for breakfast. "Morning, James." James smiled and combed his hair a couple more times.

"Morning, Kendall." Kendall mumbled something back, his voice muffled from the blueberry muffin he was eating.

"Hey Logie," Carlos said quietly. Logan just smiled, but Carlos could tell it was forced. His heart fell; Logan still hated him. Carlos frowned, and ate a huge bite out of his muffin, not bothering to check the flavor. He wondered what he would do today. He couldn't spend the day with Logan, obviously. James was working as a knee model today. Carlos did _not_ want to see that.

His only option was Kendall. When Logan left for his medical class (there were still a few days left), and James left with Katie, his manager, Kendall and Carlos were the only one left in the apartment.

"Kendall?" Kendall turned around from packing his picnic basket.

"Yeah?"

Carlos sighed. "Can I come with you wherever you're going today?" Kendall looked at him like he was crazy.

"Dude! I'm going on my awesome picnic date with Jo, remember?" Carlos didn't remember, but he nodded his head yes.

"Can... can I come with you?" Kendall looked unsure of himself. Was Jo more important, or was his friend more important? Kendall didn't want Carlos ruining his date with Jo, but he knew it would break his youngest friend's heart if he left him all alone in apartment 2J with... no one. Mrs. Knight was going out to a parent meeting today, too. Everyone would be gone. Kendall didn't want a repeat of the few days before, where Carlos was alone and almost got beaten to death by Clyde. Kendall shuddered mentally; that was _never_ going to happen again while he was there.

"I guess... but you can NOT mess anything up, or Jo will break up with me for sure! Well, maybe not, but still-" Carlos interrupted Kendall with a hug.

"Thanks, Kendall. I was going to get lonely in here anyways." Carlos smiled. He could always count on Kendall to make him feel better and more important to the world.

"We're going to the Palm Woods Park, so just bring something to entertain yourself, and don't interrupt us, okay?" Carlos nodded. He had the perfect thing to bring. And it wouldn't cause any trouble at all. Hopefully.

He was going to play a prank on Bitters. He didn't know what yet, but it would be great! Bitters would probably be crying back to the Palm Woods, looking for his long gone mother or something. Carlos laughed out loud at the thought of that.

"Why are you laughing?" Kendall asked, completely confused and puzzled.

"I'm gonna do something fun today!" Carlos shrieked running out the door. Kendall sighed. Carlos's 'fun' always ended up badly. But Kendall thought nothing of it, and ran out the door, chasing Carlos and preventing him from crashing into the fire alarm or the cactus or the other obstacles in the hall.

_Later..._

"Kendall, you were so nice to invite me to this date. And to make this delicious picnic for me." Jo smiled, and took a bite of her sandwich. Kendall and Jo stared at the clouds above them, savoring the silence that they knew wouldn't last long.

"I love you, Kendall." Jo said quietly.

"I love you too, Jo. More than words will ever say." Jo did her half smile half smirk thing, and Kendall laughed softly. He loved his girlfriend so much; he would do almost anything for her. Almost anything.

The two shared a passionate kiss, thinking that nothing would go wrong, not as long as they were together.

Meanwhile, Carlos hid behind a long and thick bush, wearing his signature tree hat. Well, it was all of his friends' signature tree hat. He scanned the Palm Woods Park, spying the Jennifers pushing Tyler into a tree, and Buddha Bob going around trimming bushes and plants and dragging around fake bodies. He was humming a song, but Carlos had never heard of it before.

Then, Carlos saw his target. There, with his black pants, blue suit, and his polka dotted tie, was Bitters. Carlos had already concocted an evil plan, and everything was in place. All he had to do now was wait. Wait for Bitters to fall into the trap. This was the awesomest plan yet!

Just then, Bitters walked by yelling at Katie and her friends. "Don't destroy the bushed with your plastic darn balls!" He yelled, grabbing his hair in frustration. Katie just laughed, and shrugged innocently.

Bitters was so close to the trap now. _Just one more step..._ Carlos thought. Bitters took that one more step and Carlos cut the rope...

A huge bucket of rotten milk came pouring down. Carlos looked down and froze. Kendall and Jo were _right there,_ right next to Bitters. Their food and blanket were already spread out, and Kendall and Jo were talking quietly, looking like they had no care in the world. Carlos desperately tried to stop the rope from falling, but it was too late. Carlos squeezed his eyes shut. _Oh no..._

A few moments later, Carlos heard shrieks and shouts of disgust. "Ewww!" Jo shouted. Well, at least Carlos thought it was Jo. Carlos looked down, and saw that their food was all covered with rotten milk, and the soon to be couple was covered in the sour milk, too.

Carlos saw Jo trying to clean off the stinking liquid, but with no avail. Kendall looked stricken with worry, and tried to clean of the milk, too. But he had no good result doing that.

Jo stared at Kendall, obviously grossed out. "Is this your idea of FUN? Because I'm pretty sure this is your prank on me, and I don't think it's funny!" Jo yelled at him.

Kendall looked shocked. "No, Jo! This wasn't me, promise! It was some other jerk. Please, Jo, please understand!" But Jo was already running far, far away from the Palm Woods Park. Far, far away from Kendall and their picnic.

Carlos gulped. He ruined Kendall's date. He would never trust him again. Kendall looked up angrily and saw Carlos with the knife in his hand. Kendall narrowed his eyes and glared. Carlos feared that the look would kill him soon.

"Carlos, let's go." Kendall said, gritting his teeth. Carlos swallowed again. He was in big trouble now. And Bitters didn't even get pranked...

_line line line line_

The walk home was silent, except for the few times Kendall sneezed from the horrible scent and the wetness of his clothes. They entered the Palm Woods elevator, and Carlos quickly pressed the button '2'.

Kendall sighed. "I can't believe you messed up my perfect date with Jo." He said calmly. He seemed to still be dreaming about it.

Then, he seemed to snap out of his day dream. "You messed up my date with Jo!" He yelled. Kendall dropped the picnic basket and pushed Carlos into the wall of the elevator. "I can't believe you!"

Carlos stood up and glared back. "Don't push me!" He said, hoping Kendall would just cool it. But he didn't.

"Now Jo's gonna break up with me and everything's going to be all wrong! And it's all because of you, Carlos! Why do you always act so _stupid_ all the time?" There it was again. The 's' word. _Stupid, stupid, stupid..._ Carlos shook the thought away, wiping the tears away from his eyes.

"Kendall, I-"

"Shut up! Just shut up, Carlos! I don't want to hear it! Why do you always act like an idiot? Why do you _always_ mess up the good things in my life?" Kendall said angrily. Carlos bit his lip, just as the elevator stopped at the 2nd floor. The two fighting boys walked out, and into their apartment.

"This date was supposed to last longer! But you decided to just join in and mess up everything!" Kendall took a cup from the sink and cracked it right in half. How he did that, Carlos would never know.

"I'm sorry, Kendall, it was an-" Kendall threw the two broken pieces into the trash.

"What? An _accident_? You always cause accidents! Why don't you just stay away from all of us and just learn to stop screwing everything up?" Kendall shouted, starting to walk away.

"Kendall wait-"

"Don't talk to me, alright? Stay away from me forever! I don't want to see your stupid face ever again!" Kendall slammed his bedroom door closed. Again, Carlos was glad he didn't share a room with Kendall, either.

Carlos sat on the kitchen table chair, and started to cry silently. Was he really just a big screw up? Even Kendall thought so, and Kendall was _always_ right. Carlos walked over to the trash, took one of the broken pieces of Kendall's cup, and stared at it, replaying his fight with Kendall _and _Logan. Two of his best friends hated him already.

_I'm not friends with imbeciles like you!_ That was Logan.

_I don't want to see your stupid face ever again!_ That was Kendall.

Carlos felt so hurt. Those words hurt him more than anything, but he felt like he deserved it. He_ was_ an imbecile who walked around screwing everything up. Maybe he _was _accident prone and an idiot.

Carlos slid the sharp part of the glass down his arm, creating a four inch long bloody cut on his left arm. He whimpered in pain; he didn't even know why he was doing this. It just felt... right, for some strange reason. He put a long band aid on his cut. It stung so bad. Carlos sniffled and tried to think of a way to make it up to his friends. But he couldn't think of anything. _That just proves you _are_ an idiot and an imbecile..._ Carlos thought sadly.

As for the cutting thing, he knew he probably wouldn't be doing it again.

**A/N- Sorry for the abrupt ending... I couldn't think of a better way to end it! **

**Anyways, thank you SO much for all the awesome reviews! I can't believe you guys all like it so much! Thank you thank you thank you sosososo much! Now if you would all review this chapter, it would really make my day! Love you all! **

**Big Time Singles... IT WAS AWESOME! I love chilli cheese fries, too. But I hate puppet shows (sorry Logie)... and honestly, I hated that black leather jacket, just because the stupid Jennifers liked it so much. That episode was just... so random! But I loved it!**

**Well, I'll try and update soon, and I would love to get some rockin' reviews! Please? **

**Alright everyone, peace out! **


	5. The Face

_**Chapter 5**_

Carlos sat on one of the wooden benches in the Palm Woods Park, thinking about everything. That morning, Kendall and Logan had glared at him, and James not even noticing. Carlos wished that James could comfort him more than ever, but he felt that he didn't deserve it. He didn't want James to be drawn in to his troubles, too.

He looked around, and saw everyone playing basketball or something with their friends. He had no friends now, other than James. But James was too busy being a model. He was trying to become a face model, other than the other useless body parts that he had. But right now, that wasn't happening.

"Carlos!" Carlos jerked out of his thought, and looked up. James stared down at him with an amused expression.

"What are ya doing?" James asked him, sitting down next to him. Carlos shrugged.

"Well, Logie's doing something with his medical school, and Kendall is somewhere probably with Jo." Carlos knew that was probably the biggest two lies ever, but he didn't want James to find out.

James scoffed. "Psht, you know that's not true. Logan's medical school is over, and I have _no_ clue why he didn't get his scholarship and Jo's in a fight with Kendall right now, so they wouldn't be hanging out together." Carlos bit his lip, his mind filling with guilt. This was all his fault.

James sighed. Nothing seemed to be working out for any of them. Kendall got into some sort of argument with Jo. They were still boyfriend and girlfriend, but probably not for long if they kept up with the behavior. Logan didn't get his scholarship. Instead, that jerk Billy got it. James's clenched his fists without knowing it, angry that Logan lost to that _idiot_ who dared called himself a human. And James himself was feeling down lately, too. He got a bunch of jobs as knee models and more elbow models, but never his face. James dreamed of being a model who actually showed everyone his face. Was his face not pretty enough? Was he too ugly for the modeling job? James couldn't help feeling sensitive about it. If he could get a face modeling job, he'd be so glad.

Carlos suddenly sniffled. James snapped out of his thoughts, and stared at his younger friend, confused. "What wrong, buddy?" James asked, looking concerned.

Carlos looked up at him with sad eyes. "This was all my fault. _I_ caused Logan to lose his scholarship, and _I_ caused Jo to get mad at Kendall."

"What are you talking about?" James said loudly. "How is this your fault? You had nothing to do with this!"

Carlos told James the whole story. James nodded sympathetically. He felt bad for Logan and Kendall and Carlos. All three of them. James wasn't really on anyone's side for this one, but he felt bad for all of them. But Logan and Kendall had no right to be saying mean words to Carlos like that. Well, maybe they did. James didn't know the whole story, and frankly, he didn't want to.

"Carlos? I'm so sorry I've been ignoring you these past few days. I've just been so busy with my modeling job, and Big Time Rush, and girls, and-" James rambled on and on, feeling guilty.

"James! Don't blame yourself for this. You didn't know. Now you're here with me, right? That's all that matters." Carlos said, putting a hand on James's shoulder. James sighed.

"I know, but I've been such a jerk. I would be really angry if I were you. Really angry at me." James admitted quietly.

"James, that's because you have anger issues." Carlos pointed out, and they chuckled. "I'm not mad at you." He added.

James grinned. "Well, if I were you, I'd punch me really _really_ hard right now for abandoning me. Right in the face." He was half joking, and half serious. The next thing he knew, though, he saw stars in his vision. He felt a fierce pain in his face, and felt something warm trickling down his face. He groaned, wondering what had happened. He opened his eyes, and his vision spun. After a few seconds, it returned to normal, and James could see what had happened.

"Carlos! What the heck, man?" James shouted, obviously in pain. "Why'd you punch me in the face?"

Carlos stared back innocently. "You said if you were me, then you'd punch yourself really hard." James sighed in frustration, anger, and pain.

"But why in my face? You know my face is the most important part on me!" James protested.

"Because you said 'right in the face'."

"But I didn't mean it literally. You weren't supposed to punch me for real! Especially not in the face!" James could not believe he was having his conversation with Carlos. How could he actually do it? Punching James's in the face made him really mad. And depressed for some reason.

"Well, _sor-ry._" Carlos said, drawing out the word 'sorry'.

"Do you think this is funny? Because I sure don't!" James said coldly.

"James, I-" Once again, Carlos was cut off. Interrupted. Interrupted like he didn't matter anymore.

"Well, I'm going home to clean up my now horrible looking face!" James cried, storming off.

Carlos couldn't believe it. He messed up _again_. Three times in a row? But this time, he actually hurt someone physically. Now James was mad at him, too. No one like him anymore. He was just an extra person, someone who was worth nothing in this huge world. Carlos sighed, and fell asleep on the wooden bench, surrounded by people who actually had friends who cared about them.

_line line line line _

James paced back to the apartment. He was walking into the lobby, when someone stopped him. A big, burly man with a strong build. He could smother James in one hit. Even more than Carlos had.

"Uhh... hey?" James squeaked. What did this guy want?

"James Diamond?" he asked. James nodded.

"We have a letter for you. Boss says he finally got you a modeling job that you'll enjoy." Then the man was gone. James opened the white envelope, and took out the sheet of paper with neat writing on it.

James read it over to himself. The letter told him that he had gotten the face modeling job he had dreamed about ever since he knew what the word 'model' meant. Other than becoming famous, this was James's other biggest dream. To become a face model. And it was finally coming true.

The letter told James to meet at the... wherever it was that he went for his elbow models with Katie. James quickly ran out of the Palm Woods, and called for a taxi. He gave the driver the address, and got there in minutes. James quickly entered his body filling with excitement. This was almost too good to be true. Who ever thought this would happen to James Diamond and 'The Face'?

"James Diamond?" A female voice asked him. James looked up from the letter he was rereading, and saw a pretty girl with a clipboard.

"That's me." James stood up and saw the girl gape. James smirked. This was the kind of reaction he always got.

The girl hurried into a room, and came out with a chubby lady with a tag that said 'Manager'. She looked over James, and stared at his face. James was confused. Why was everyone staring at him like-

_Oh yeah. My beaten up face. Whoops._

"James Diamond? We apologize, but you're fired." The old lady said casually.

"WHAT? Why?" James shouted. But he already knew why.

"Your face is... bruised up and bloody."

"But... can I at least come back when it's better?" James begged desperately. The lady sighed and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but we need a face _right now_. And we'll just have to find someone else. Sorry for the inconvenience." James glared at her, but on the inside, he felt broken. His dream was so close to coming true... and now it was never even going to happen.

"I... hate you!" James shouted, tears in his eyes. He stormed out of the building, and sat on the stone steps outside. He cried and cried for a few minutes, until finally, he stopped when a bunch of kids were staring at him. He quickly stood up, glared at the kids, and called a taxi.

He went up the elevator, and into apartment 2J. James slammed the door shut. He was feeling broken and devastated before, but now he felt anger and bitterness toward that stupid old lady, and Carlos. For breaking his face and breaking his dream.

Carlos looked up, and turned off his video game. "James."

James looked at him and narrowed his eyes. "Don't talk to me. I'm fired from my face modeling job that I finally earned. Because you punched me in the face. You ruined my dream." His voice cracked at the end, but he didn't care.

"It wasn't my fault, James." Carlos said quietly.

"Yes it was! You take everything so seriously. Don't you get that you weren't supposed to punch me in the face?"

Carlos looked down and bit his lower lip. He said nothing.

"Why can't you stop being an idiot and actually start thinking for once?" James snapped.

"Just because you lost your job, doesn't mean _I'm _the idiot!" Carlos retorted, his eyes looking hurt.

"It kinda does! You _are _the idiot. An idiot who runs around with a black hockey helmet, ruining peoples' lives. Now I know why Kendall and Logan were mad at you! Honestly, I'm not loving you right now either!" James huffed in anger, and stomped into his room. And what was worse, Carlos _did_ share a room with James. Carlos felt tears in his eyes _again,_ and wondered why he kept messing up. Now all of his three friends were mad at him.

He messed up Logan's dream of becoming a doctor. He messed up Kendall's dream of being with Jo forever. He messed up James's dream of becoming a face model. Too bad he didn't have any dreams for them to mess up. Because Carlos thought he deserved getting _his_ dream messed up, too.

_Well, actually, my dream is already messed up. My dream was just to have best friends who cared for me. To be loved and wanted in this world. Now all I am is a stupid imbecile idiot who ruined everyone's lives._ Carlos thought silently. Why did all of this happen? Why did he mess up all the time?

Carlos ran into the bathroom, and locked the door behind him. He slid down until he sat on the tile floor. Carlos let his tears flow, and he cried because everything hated him now.

**A/N- Wow. Sad... My fastest update so far! Aren't you proud of me? Well, actually, probably not... but I'm proud of myself!**

**Everyone, thank you for the AWESOME reviews! You really encouraged me to keep writing and to update quickly! I love all the positive comments, and I CANNOT believe how many people like this story! So, thank you SO SO much! Carlos gives you a hug! A virtual one, of course!**

**I'll try and update ASAP! Please review! It really means a lot to me! Thanks! :)**


	6. Worthless

_**Chapter 6**_

"Ha! Take that!" Carlos was woken up by the noise of loud screaming. It was Saturday morning, one of the only two days they four BTR boys were off from recording, singing, dancing, and all that other tiring stuff. Usually, they spent the day playing video games or hanging by the pool. Today was like no other. Other than the fact that Carlos wasn't with them.

Carlos sighed. He was really hoping all the things that had happened were just nightmares. Horrible, realistic nightmares. But they weren't. The welt Logan had purposely caused was still aching, and Carlos's wrist still hurt from where Kendall pushed him into the elevator.

The helmet wearing boy got up out of bed, took a quick shower, and brushed his teeth. He went into the kitchen and saw the other three boys playing a video game that Carlos didn't remember the name of. It looked really fun, but Carlos would rather die than ask them if he could join in.

When Carlos's foot bumped into the table leg, the other three boys glanced behind them quickly, wondering who or what had caused the noise. When they saw Carlos, they just glared slightly and went back to their game.

"James! Stop cheating!" Logan yelled playfully, punching James in the arm. James returned the action.

"Oh yeah? So _I'm_ the one cheating? That's more like what Kendall's doing!" James said, receiving a light push from Kendall.

"I'm not cheating! I'm..." Carlos blocked out the rest of the friendly conversation, knowing that he wasn't supposed to tune in to it. It turned out that no one had bothered to make breakfast for him, so Carlos just took out some frozen corndogs and thawed them in the microwave. He ate them all in a few bites, just realizing that he hadn't dinner last night. That hadn't happened... in years! The last time that had happened was when he about 9 years old. He fell off a tall brick wall and was unconscious for a day or two.

Suddenly, Carlos heard Kendall groan, and assumed that the boy's marine character had just been killed, and was out of the game. Kendall stood up and walked to where Carlos was sitting. Carlos shook out of his thoughts, and quickly stood up and walked away. Carlos felt a hand on his shoulder. Kendall.

Carlos hesitantly turned around and stared at his feet. Kendall's eyes and face were blank, as if he wasn't thinking about anything. Kendall lifted Carlos's head up. "I found out what you did to Logan and James. You ruined their dreams." Kendall hissed at him quietly. He didn't look... happy, but he didn't look that mad either. Well, maybe he did look kind of mad. The venom in his voice was enough to make Carlos want to run away and hide forever. You never made Kendall Knight mad, unless you wanted to die or get seriously hurt. Everyone knew that Kendall was fiercely protective of his friends. Even James, who was taller and older than him. This time, Carlos knew _he_ was the bully who had hurt all of them. Kendall was mad at _him._

"Kendall! I didn't mean to! I promise! It just kind of happened." Carlos admitted softly. He just wished Kendall wasn't the one who was out of the game. He'd rather have this conversation with anyone else, but not him. With James, sure. With Logan, sure. But with Kendall? No way. But here he was, getting possibly yelled at by Kendall.

"That's what you always said when you messed the millions of times before. But this time, you really messed up big time. And you can't fix it. We're all mad at you, Carlos. And there's really nothing you can do to get us to be your friends again. What you did was really bad. Really... Carlosish, I guess. I mean, I've always expected that you would be the one to break me and Jo up. And guess what? You were!" Kendall sighed in anger and frustration. He took a pen from Logan's pencil bag and broke it right in half. The ink spilled onto his hands and he wiped it on a napkin.

Kendall glared daggers at him, and then turned around swiftly and left. Back to James and Logan, who were finally finished with the video game, and staring at the conversation going on. Kendall walked back to them and told them something that made them laugh. Then, James pointed at Carlos and said something, which made them laugh even harder. Carlos could feel his face turning red and hot. This reminded him so much of when he was bullied. Except this time, no one was there to stick up for him.

"Wanna go hang by the pool, guys?" Kendall asked quickly.

Logan smiled. "Sure. I'm already changed under my clothes because I knew you were going to ask me." He added lamely. Kendall high-fived him, and they started to head out.

"Jamez! Come on!" James quickly stopped combing his hair and looking into his mirror and left the apartment. Carlos didn't even try to follow them, knowing they'd just yell at him even more. Or laugh at him. Well, that was probably even worse. Carlos climbed into their swirly slide and sighed. Were his friends really still that mad at him? He knew he really made them angry. And destroyed their dreams. Now his friends were at the pool, playing pranks on Bitters and having Katie help them conduct evil schemes, without him. Carlos never wished this would ever happen. It was his worst nightmare. His worst nightmare was coming true.

_I'm not friends with imbeciles like you. And if you don't know what an imbecile is, it means a stupid person! _Logan had yelled that at him right before he pushed him into the wooden floor, causing a red and purplish welt to form on his side. Carlos had searched up the word 'imbecile' on Google, and the definition that appeared was, in fact, 'a stupid person'. Exactly those words. Leave it to Logan to be precisely smart.

_I don't want to see your stupid face ever again!_ It seemed like a childish thing for Kendall to say, but it had hurt none the less. Not only had Kendall insulted his intelligence, but also his appearance. Kendall would be seeing Carlos's face for a long time still, but that was only when they were singing or dancing or when he was yelling at him.

_You _are_ the idiot. An idiot who runs around with a black hockey helmet, ruining peoples' lives._ Was he really the idiot of the group? Did everyone think of him as that? The darn idiot, imbecile, stupid-faced kid running around with a hockey helmet breaking stuff and making people angry?

Carlos knew that everyone thought of Kendall as the leader, the responsible one who was clever and saved the guys out of trouble many countless times. The only one who could talk back to Gustavo Rocque, and not get beaten up. The boy who had no flaws, who was pretty much perfect.

Carlos knew everyone thought of James as the pretty boy. He had perfect brunette hair, and girls thought he had perfect hazel eyes. James could get any girl to like him, except for the Jennifers, of course. His flirtatious attitude could get any girl's interest. James was also caring, and helped others in times of need.

Carlos knew everyone thought of Logan as the smart one. He could measure the diameter of a wishing well in second, and could name 100 digits of pi. Logan was the one keeping them all grounded, and curing their injuries when they got themselves hurt. His medical skills _and_ his academic skills were admired by many people. Adult, kids, teens, even old people! On top of it all, Logan was mature and would give up pretty much anything if one of his friends were depressed or sad for any reason.

But what about him? What did everyone think of _him?_ A fool kid who just cared about having fun. A kid who needed babysitting, even though he was 16 years old already? It was a good thing Kendall, James, and Logan were older than him, or they'd really have to get a real babysitter.

Carlos knew he wasn't meant to be part of Big Time Rush. He was just a guy in the background. He wasn't needed. Kendall was the great leader who could do a great job lead singing. James was the handsome, pretty boy who all the girls would love. Logan was the intelligent guy who could solve almost any problem. Carlos was just there... well, there really was no reason Carlos was there. He was just a burden to his... well, now they weren't his _friends_, more like his _enemies_. He was just a guy in the shadows, a guy that nobody wanted. Did they just pick him up and add him into the group because they felt bad for a little Latino boy like him?

The helmet wearing boy lay down in the yellow swirly slide, tears in his eyes. He let them out, not caring if he was soaking his favorite shirt. He was worth nothing, and his three friends really _didn't _care about them. Just as that bully Clyde had said a week ago. He cried and cried, until his sobs turned into hiccups. He sniffled a bunch of times, before he slid down the slide. Yellow seemed to him like a boring, sad color now. Not happy and cheerful like he had thought before.

Carlos went into his bedroom, pulling his blanket over himself. He didn't bother changing, he just lay there in his bed, thinking. About all the hurtful things people had said to him. All of which were true. Totally true.

Because Carlos Garcia knew he was worth nothing now.

**A/N- Bet you didn't know that was gonna happen! Well, it did! Two chapters in ONE DAY? I didn't even know that was possible for someone like me! But this is all because of you guys, and the awesome stuff you've told me about this story! Thank you bunches of times!**

**I want to thank you AGAIN for all the reviews you've given to this story! Please keep it up, because these reviews are making my day, and encouraging me to write more and more. This was probably the longest chapter I've ever written in my life! Well, at least I think so... And the chapters might even get longer! Thanks SO much for the story alerts and favorites, author alerts and favorites, and especially all the awesome reviews!**

**The next chapter will be posted soon, I promise you that! Love all of you, and see ya later!**


	7. The 'S' Word

_**Chapter 7**_

_"You useless freak! I hate you Carlos!" James shouted. Kendall smirked and nodded in agreement._

_ "No one likes you anymore! Face it!" He yelled at him, spitting in his face. Carlos was scared. He didn't know what was happening. They were on a really tall mountain somehow, and his 'friends' were trying to push him off._

_ "I don't want to see you again, Carlos! It's better for everyone if you just fall of the cliff." Logan added, looking satisfied._

_ "And died." Kendall and James said together. Carlos backed off a few steps. But his 'friends' kept on cornering him. Either jump off the cliff, or his 'friends' come push him off. Carlos had no choice, because the next step he took backwards, all he felt was air. Carlos tripped and found himself hanging on to the edge of the cliff, looking down at the ground thousands of feet below._

_ "Please don't push me off!" Carlos begged uselessly. Logan and Kendall just shook their heads, as if they couldn't believe Carlos just asked that question. James kicked a pebble into Carlos's face. _

_ "No chance, Carlos. Say good bye to your useless life." Then, all three of them pried Carlos fingers off his hold on the cliff, and then Carlos found him falling down, down, down. Into a black hole..._

Carlos gasped and woke up, covered in sweat. He was in the air conditioned bedroom he shared with James. Not falling off a cliff. Carlos took deep breaths of air. It felt like he'd never get enough of it.

"Carlos, shut up. I'm sleeping." James mumbled. Carlos apologized quickly, and walked out of the room. He looked at the kitchen clock. 4:23 in the morning. Way too early for anyone to be getting up. Except him.

Carlos didn't even bother to eat anything as he sat in front of his laptop, typing in a bunch of words quickly. 'Mountains in California." He was going to find the mountain that he dreamed of. If it actually existed. Carlos pressed the first search result, and saw a list of mountains all located somewhere in California. He pressed the first one, and saw that it didn't match the description. He kept on pressing all the mountains on the list, until he found the closest matching one.

It had a picture of a tall mountain, with a drop thousands of feet high. It was called "Mount Whitney". It was the highest mountain in California, and it had really steep cliffs. Carlos shuddered at his dream minutes before. This was almost exactly the same mountain, but there was one difference Carlos saw. Everyone on that mountain was so happy, and looked like they enjoyed it. In his dream, everyone there was evil-looking and looked like they didn't care for anything.

There was a little tiny sentence at the bottom that said: "More than 13 people every year committed suicide here." Carlos was confused. What the heck was 'suicide'? He'd never heard of it before.

Carlos searched it up, and read the definition. Carlos almost laughed out loud, because this was the most research he'd ever done in his whole life!

"The action of killing oneself intentionally." That's what it meant? But what did 'intentionally' mean? Carlos's head was hurting from all the research, and he decided to drop the subject for now.

But just then, he heard someone coming out of the bedroom. It was Logan. Carlos quickly closed his laptop, and sat on one of the kitchen table chairs, pretending he wasn't doing anything. Logan looked surprised that somebody would be up before him, but he looked like he didn't care, either.

"What are you doing?" He asked harshly. Carlos shrugged.

"Couldn't sleep." He replied honestly. How could someone sleep after the nightmare he'd had? Logan just ignored him, and poured himself a glass of water.

"Hey, Logan?" Carlos asked quietly, not sure if he would answer.

"What do you want?" Logan snapped quietly, not wanting to wake anyone up.

Carlos took a deep breath, and then let it out again. "What does "intentionally" mean?" He waited hesitantly to see if Logan actually listened to his question.

Logan glared at him, but his eyes seemed to have a strange look in them. "It means 'on purpose'. Like how you messed up my scholarship on purpose." Logan added. Carlos changed his mind about Logan maybe forgiving him, and just nodded.

"Okay..." He said instead, afraid Logan would get mad again.

"Bye." Logan said indifferently, and went back into his room. Carlos wished the old Logan was back. The one who would ask why he was up at 4:23 in the morning, or whatever time it was right now. The one who would comfort Carlos when he had a nightmare, even one that wasn't scary at all in his eyes. But that Logan seemed to be gone already. And it didn't look like he was returning.

"So 'suicide' basically means killing yourself on purpose?" Carlos asked himself quietly. He clocked ticked in response, and some birds outside started chirping a beautiful song.

That was the first time Carlos Garcia had ever heard of suicide.

_line line line line line_

Carlos stayed awake for the rest of the night, until the sun came up. That was when the others finally started waking up.

James was the first to come out, then Logan, and then finally Kendall. "Hey, look who finally decided to get up early for once?" James said, smirking. The others just grinned and chuckled. Carlos felt like he was getting teased again and again.

"And look who decided to not wear his helmet today?" Kendall added.

"Let's hope that happens more often." Logan said, grinning his evil little grin. The guys just laughed and made their breakfast. Carlos felt tears in his eyes. It had already been days like this, and he didn't think he could be strong anymore. Carlos ran into his room, not caring how loudly he slammed the door shut. He didn't want to live his life like this anymore.

Logan said he was a really stupid person, Kendall called his face stupid, and James called him an idiot with a stupid black hockey helmet. Well, maybe not the 'stupid' part, but they all basically told him his helmet was stupid today.

Carlos heard the guys laughing out of his room. He knew they were probably laughing at how _stupid_ he was, or how much of a mess up he was. Carlos felt tears coming down his face. He was such a baby, crying because his own _band mates_ were teasing him until he cried. Then, Carlos stared up at the ceiling thinking about this morning. The dream and all the research.

When the guys finally left and shut the door, Carlos came out of his room. He knew what he wanted to do now. Nobody cared about him anymore, so he might as well just end it. Forever. Maybe he should just do what everyone called 'suicide.' Maybe he _really wanted_ to do it. And he did really want to do it.

But before he took the knife out from the kitchen drawer, he wrote a note.

_Dear Mrs. Knight and Katie (and Kendall, James, and Logan if they actually took the time to read this),_

_ I'm sorry this had to happen. I'm ending my life, and doing this thing everyone calls 'sooside'. Well, I forget how to spell it but it's something where the person kills himself on purpose. I just feel like you guys don't care anymore, and I'm just left all alone. I just feel that I'm just a guy in the background, and that I don't deserve to be in Big Time Rush, or this world. So I'm taking Mrs. Knight's cutting knife (the really big one), and cutting myself until I lose so much blood I die. I already planned it out and stuff._

_ Katie, please stop harassing Bitters, and don't cause so much trouble! You are the best little sister ever. And Mrs. Knight, you are the best mom ever. Kendall, you are the best leader ever. James, you are the most handsome guy ever (not trying to sound gay or anything), and Logan, you are the smartest guy I've ever met. I just don't think I deserve you guys anymore. You're all so perfect, and I guess I'm just… not._

_ So, I'm really sorry if I make you sad or something likethat. I don't really mean to. But I just think it's my time to go. My time to be gone forever._

_ From, Carlos Garcia _

Carlos left the note on the kitchen counter and thought about his actions again. Could he really do this? Would he regret it later on, when he was already dead and couldn't think anymore?

_Stupid, imbecile, idiot..._ Kendall, James, and Logan's words echoed in his mind once again, and he knew what he had to do.

Carlos took the large knife, and stuck the pointy side into his wrist. He felt pain fill his body, and it somehow took away the rest of his emotional and mental pain. Now he knew why someone would do this. To take away the rest of the even more unbearable pain. He kept on pressing down into his veins, until he felt something hard. His bone.

That was all Carlos Garcia processed before his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he fell to the floor, blackness surrounding him.

**A/N- This had to happen, please don't kill me! I'm so sorry! But I promise you, Carlos isn't dead yet... maybe...**

**Thanks for all the reviews! They are AMAZING! And I love reading them! They make my day and mean so much to me! Keep it up, all of you awesomes who are reviewing this story!**


	8. Katie

_**Chapter 8**_

Katie Knight was confused. More confused than she'd ever been in her 11 years of life. The 11 year old girl sat on one of the comfy pool chairs, pretending to read a book for school. She watched as James playfully pushed Kendall into the pool, just as Logan pushed James into the pool. But she noticed that there wasn't anyone there to push _Logan_ into the pool. Where was Carlos?

A couple days before, Katie saw James's beaten up face.

_"What happened to you face?" Katie asked, looking amused. Nothing ever got onto James's face, if he could help it._

_ "Carlos punched me! Ugh! How literal can he be?" And then James walked off, hands covering his bruised face. Katie shrugged and went off to prove that she was better than Bitters._

A day or so before _that_, Katie bumped into Jo on her way to the lobby.

_"Kendall! I told you that- oh, hey Katie. Sorry, I thought you were Kendall..." Jo trailed off, her eyes filled with anger._

_ "I thought you were supposed be on your date with Kendall, right? Where is he?" Katie asked politely. Jo bit her lip._

_ "Why don't you ask him? He got someone to dump rotten milk on me! Now I stink all over, _and_ my new clothes are ruined!" Jo stomped off, leaving a very puzzled Katie. What just happened?_

_ "Ugh, Jo! That wasn't even me! That was just Carlos being stupid!" Kendall ran after Jo a few second later. Katie didn't even bother to ask. She already knew what probably happened._

A day before _that_, she saw Logan all depressed and shaving his toy cat.

_"Logan! What are you doing with the cat?" Katie walked into Logan and Kendall's room, and sat down on Kendall's bed. Logan sighed._

_ "I'm angry. So I'm shaving a cat..." He told Katie the rest of the story. Katie just laughed and shook her head. Carlos was so stupid sometimes._

_ But Logan wasn't amused. "How can you laugh, Katie? I lost my scholarship to Billy Mangers! That idiot! I lost my big chance!" Logan said, almost in tears. Katie just sighed apologetically, and left the room._

Thinking about the past few days, Katie put the puzzled pieces together. Carlos messed up Logan's folder, ruined Kendall's date, and punched James's face, preventing him from doing his modeling job. And now, the guys were all ignoring him. But what was worse, Katie remembered them teasing Carlos and calling him a jerk just the day before. _They're going too far,_ Katie thought angrily.

How could they just bully on of their best friends since pre-K? Carlos had always been the most sensitive, the easiest to get hurt. Those words said to him probably hurt him more than ever. And Carlos had always been the youngest, and the guys were always there to protest him and Logan from bullies, or from getting hurt. But not now. Katie quickly got off her chair, and stalked past the Jennifers. As she walked past Logan, she pushed him into the pool, earning a glare and a few protests. She ignored all of them, and walked into the lobby.

She got to Apartment 2J a minute or so later. She knocked, but no one was there. She took out her toothpick, and picked the lock open. Tyler had taught her how. Katie walked in and gasped.

Carlos was lying on the floor, a pool of blood next to him. A huge cutting knife lay covered in blood next to him. Katie ran over and kneeled beside the injured boy.

"Carlos! Wake up! Please wake up!" She begged over and over again, but Carlos didn't respond. She felt her pulse, and saw that Carlos had stabbed himself there. Right in the wrist. She saw a bone sticking out, and she knew that that one stab had caused more damage than ever.

"What'd you do, Carlos? What happened to you?" Katie cried, tears filling her eyes. She didn't cry often, but this was reason enough to cry.

Katie snapped out of her depressed trance, and quickly grabbed the home phone. She dialed the three numbers her mom had never let her dial before. But this was an emergency. 911.

"911, how may I help you?" The voice on the other side startled Katie.

"Um... My friend got stabbed. Or maybe he stabbed himself. But he stabbed his wrist, right at the pressure point, I think. But he's bleeding a lot and he's passed out, too." Katie finally got out. It hurt her to say all that, but she knew Carlos needed help. Now.

She told the man talking her address, and then he hung up. Katie quickly took the home phone and dialed Kendall's number. She was so angry at him and his two other friends. This was _their_ fault.

"Hello? Mom?" Kendall asked quickly. Katie heard laughter in the background. Katie just got even angrier at that.

"Get back home, Kendall. _Now._" Katie said, trying to sound as mean as she could. Kendall muttered a quick 'okay', and hung up. Katie took a deep breath and looked over at the boy she called her brother.

Suddenly, she saw a flash of white. A note. Katie picked it up and read it quietly to herself.

_Dear Mrs. Knight and Katie (and Kendall, James, and Logan if they actually took the time to read this),_

Wow. The other three boys must be treating him horribly if Carlos thought they wouldn't take the time to read his note. Well, maybe it was true... Katie didn't know the whole story yet.

_I'm sorry this had to happen. I'm ending my life, and doing this thing everyone calls 'sooside'. Well, I forget how to spell it but it's something where the person kills himself on purpose._ Katie almost smiled at how cute Carlos made the subject of suicide sound. It sounded so innocent when Carlos said it. But Katie knew it was something much more horrible.

_I just feel like you guys don't care anymore, and I'm just left all alone. I just feel that I'm just a guy in the background, and that I don't deserve to be in Big Time Rush, or this world. _Katie gasped in horror. How could Carlos ever think that? He was one of the best singers ever, and his dancing was _way_ better than anyone she'd met before. Poor Carlos, what did the three of his stupid "friends" say to him to make him lose so much self confidence?

_So I'm taking Mrs. Knight's cutting knife (the really big one), and cutting myself until I lose so much blood I die. I already planned it out and stuff._ Oh Carlos, how could you be so stupid? Don't you know what could happen to you now because of your actions? But Katie knew that Carlos was so innocent, he didn't really even know what he was doing.

_Katie, please stop harassing Bitters, and don't cause so much trouble! You are the best little sister ever. _Tears filled Katie's eyes at that statement. All she'd done for her four brothers were tease them and tell them how happy she was when they were gone. She pranked them, and teased them, and did many mean things to them. She wasn't a good sister at all.

_And Mrs. Knight, you are the best mom ever. _Katie wondered how her mom would react to that.

_Kendall, you are the best leader ever. James, you are the most handsome guy ever (not trying to sound gay or anything), and Logan, you are the smartest guy I've ever met. _Katie snorted. If they _were_ great people, they would have just forgave Carlos and started over. They were so mean to Carlos, even though they knew he didn't do it on purpose.

_I just don't think I deserve you guys anymore. You're all so perfect, and I guess I'm just… not._ Carlos thought he wasn't perfect... well, nobody was perfect. Katie knew that for sure. When she was younger, she thought Kendall was perfect, but now she could see all his flaws. Carlos was way better than those other three jerks. Katie didn't even want to think about Kendall, James, or Logan anymore. They had gone too far, and there was no going back now.

_So, I'm really sorry if I make you sad or something like that. I don't really mean to. _Even when Carlos was suffering, Katie was surprised that Carlos still cared about everyone else's feelings. His feelings were hurt beyond belief, but he still didn't want to hurt other people's. That was one huge thing Katie loved about Carlos.

_But I just think it's my time to go. My time to be gone forever._ Katie knew she wouldn't be able to live if Carlos was gone. He was her brother, and she couldn't afford to lose any of her four brothers. Though, now she wished Kendall and James and Logan suffered something painful, too.

_ From, Carlos Garcia. _He even signed his name at the bottom, proving that he _did_ write the devastating note.

Then, there was an urgent knock on the door. Katie opened it quickly, and the paramedics rushed in. They lowered a hospital bed thingy and carried Carlos onto it.

"Little girl, don't be scared, alright? We've already called your mom, and she's on her way back. Your... friend here will be fine, alright?" A paramedic with a nametag that said 'Jasmine' told her gently. But Katie could hear the doubt in her voice. Just because she was 11, she could read people perfectly.

The paramedics left with Carlos. Katie just stood there frozen in shock, grief, and anger. Carlos could die because of Kendall, James, and Logan. He could _die._ The truth finally sank in and Katie fell onto her knees, tears running down her cheeks. How could this happen to Carlos? Sweet, innocent, little Carlos? He didn't deserve this, yet he had tried to kill himself.

A few minutes later, Katie stood back up, and took some deep breaths to calm herself down. She had to be strong... for her mom and Carlos.

Just then, the door opened, and Kendall came in, followed by James and Logan. Katie ran over to Kendall, and grabbed him by his shirt.

Kendall looked startled. "What's wrong, Katie?" He asked, seeing her red and puffy eyes. Katie almost _never_ cried. Why was she crying now?

Katie shook her head, her vision filled with tears of grief and anger. She glared at Kendall as hard as she could, and said in a shaky voice, "What have you done?"

**A/N- Katie... I love you sometimes... I don't think I have your temper to stand up to others like that. Sigh. Well, that was all Katie. Don't you just love her?**

**Thank you SO much for the reviews! Every one of them are awesome! I loved them so much... even the death threats posted for Kendall, James, and Logan. Wow, those were violent. But thank you SO much for the positive comments, keep those going, please!**

**I'll try to update soon! I think I'm actually doing a really good job! Maybe it's just because I'm bored out of my mind these days... though they are better than going to school! :)**

**Please review, and I'll update! :) LOL!**


	9. Faults

_**Chapter 9**_

Kendall stared at his little sister, obviously confused. What _did_ he do? He didn't remember doing anything bad to Katie. "What do you mean?" He asked obliviously. Katie stared at him, shocked.

"You don't know what you did?" She practically shouted. "You've been ignoring and hurting Carlos for the past week!" She yelled angrily. Kendall stared at Katie, wide eyed.

"Yeah, but that's only because..." Kendall trailed off, not knowing what was wrong with Katie. Her eyes almost looked black because she was so fed up with him. But... why? Katie had never looked so angry before.

Katie took a deep breath and handed Kendall a note written in Carlos's messy handwriting. Kendall read it, and didn't know what to think. He handed it to James and Logan, who looked frozen in shock after they read it.

"See what you guys did? He tried to _kill_ himself, and it might've actually worked!" Katie shouted, starting to cry again. How could Kendall, James, and Logan be so _stupid_! How could they do this to someone like Carlos? How could they do this to anyone?

"Katie, I-I don't know what t-to say." James whispered his voice shaky. But Katie obviously did know what to say.

"You idiots! How could you do this? What is wrong with you?" Katie shouted, running into her room and slamming the door.

Kendall stood frozen in shock and disbelief. Carlos tried to kill himself? How was that even possible? He couldn't even spell the word 'suicide' correctly! How could he do it? Kendall knew this had something to do with the three of them. Actually, it had everything to do with the three of them. They were such jerks to Carlos. It had been a joke at first, but now... Kendall had started thinking that Carlos deserved it for some reason. He _did_ mess up their dreams and wishes, but Kendall knew he went _way_ too far. Carlos probably didn't even know what he was doing to himself. Kendall knew this was all their faults, and he kind of hated himself for doing it.

James felt tears in his eyes. Carlos had committed suicide! Carlos was the kind of guy who was always happy, and didn't have a care in the world. But now here he was, trying to kill himself. James could just imagine how hurt someone must have had to been to even _think_ of killing himself. James knew he had messed up big time. And he was mad at Carlos for messing up. James knew he had made the biggest mistake he'd ever made in his entire life. If Carlos died, James would hate himself. He might even try to kill himself, just as poor Carlos had. James vowed to never do anything to hurt Carlos ever again. If he lived, that was. James hoped more than hope that Carlos would be alright.

Logan rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He wanted to be a doctor, and that was probably the only reason he got mad at Carlos for not giving him the right folder. But Logan felt guilty now. Why did he get so angry? Why was he such a jerk to Carlos? Logan had been the biggest bully target in middle school, so he knew exactly how it felt to be bullied. So why did he do it to his best friend? That just sounded obscure to Logan, and he felt disgusted with himself. How could they all do this to Carlos? Now he had tried to kill himself, and commit suicide. Logan knew many teenagers died from that every year, but he never knew that Carlos would be in danger of dying of suicide.

"This is all out faults." James muttered softly. Kendall sighed, and Logan nodded his head in agreement. This was indeed their fault.

"I can't believe I was a bully..." Logan said, tears choking up his voice. "How could I do this to him?"

"Logan, we _all_ were jerks to Carlos, and I think we're paying the price for our wrong actions right now." Kendall pointed out grimly. The others nodded in agreement. They had been real harsh to Carlos the past few days.

"Guess we better go and check him out." James said blankly, heading out the door. Logan followed suit. Kendall was about to leave himself, when he thought of Katie. Kendall slowly approached Katie's room, and knocked on the wooden door twice.

"Katie! We're going to the hospital! You wanna come?" Kendall asked softly. His voice was so hoarse, it was a wonder that Katie heard him and came out of her room. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she had a bunch of tissues littered on her bed. Kendall's eyes softened, and Kendall gave Katie a hug.

"This is all my fault. And James and Logan, too. But mostly mine. You were right Katie, like always." Kendall smiled, and Katie half smiled back. At least her brother knew he had done something horrible. Katie put her small hand in Kendall's larger one, and together, they walked out of the apartment, locking the door behind them. They caught up with James and Logan, who were patiently holding the elevator door open, waiting for the two Knights to arrive.

Katie quickly pressed the button that soon brought them to the lobby. They ran out of the hotel, ignoring Bitters protests. They ran to the parking lot, and hopped onto the car. Logan drove, and James sat in the passenger seat. Kendall and Katie sat in the back. All four of them sat quietly in the car for the whole ride, anxiously awaiting the red lights to turn green.

Finally, the four arrived at the hospital. Kendall ran to the desk and rung the silver bell over and over again. A nurse came out with clipboards and papers. "Yes, sir, do you need anything?" She asked with a sweet and quiet voice.

"Um, Carlos Garcia?" James asked quietly and hopefully. Honestly, Kendall knew they were all expecting for the worse. That the nurse would look at them sorrowfully and say "I'm sorry, he's passed away," or something like that. But that wasn't what happened.

"Are you family?" she asked hesitantly, not missing the desperate looks the boys and Katie gave her. Logan thought quickly, not caring if he lied. He would lie for Carlos as many times as he could in a situation like this.

"Yeah, he's our little brother." Logan said, surprising Kendall. Logan never lied if he could help it. But now, they _had_ to see Carlos, and see what they had done to him. The nurse nodded in acceptance, and led them to Carlos's room.

"You can only see him for a few minutes. The doctors are stitching him up soon."

Kendall stared at her. "Can you tell us what... injuries he has?" The nurse sighed sympathetically, and glanced at her clipboard. She flipped through a few papers, and finally looked up.

"Carlos had a broken wrist from where he stabbed it, and a minor concussion from when he fell." James nodded, and the nurse took that as her cue to leave.

Kendall looked at Carlos. He expected him to have a bunch of tubes and everything covering him up, but he didn't. He just had this... white thing wrapped around his head, and Kendall could see some dry blood on his face. There was also a huge thing wrapped around Carlos's wrist. Kendall could imagine a huge hole where Carlos had stabbed it. Kendall could feel Katie shudder, and he pulled her in for a hug. Katie was too young to see something like this. Poor Katie.

Kendall begged for Carlos to wake up. Silently, of course. His friends couldn't see that he was broken on the inside. He had to take care of them, especially Carlos and Katie. They needed him so much now, and he knew he couldn't back down and be weak.

"Come on, Carlos. Please wake up." James whispered. Tears rolled down his eyes, and Kendall's eyes filled up with water, too. But he would never let them fall. That was a sign of weakness.

"Yeah, man... we're really sorry." Logan said helplessly.

"Carlos, we need you. Wake up." Katie said. she didn't mean for it to sound like a demand, but she kind of wanted to demand Carlos to wake up.

"Carlos, we need your happiness and your cheerfulness. We need you to teach us to pretend there isn't a care in the world. Please wake up." Kendall begged, his whisper just loud enough to be audible. He wanted to tell Carlos that if he didn't wake up, his leader and role model, Kendall Knight, would die on the inside.

Kendall felt so bad for Carlos right now, especially since this was all their fault. But Kendall knew he had to say strong for everyone. They made this mistake, and they were going to pay for it.

**A/N- Abrupt ending... sorry... Well, I hoped you like it! All of you were begging not to have Carlos die... and he didn't! Well, at least for now...**

**Thanks a million times for the reviews, guys! I love them so much, and they mean a LOT to me! Keep them going! I love all of ya! **

**Anonymous Skrtle, OUT!**


	10. Blame

_**Chapter 10**_

The three boys had left Carlos sleeping in peace the day before. None of them could sleep that night, all for different reasons.

Kendall felt confused. He didn't know why Katie had been so fed up. He knew they were to blame, but why would Katie be in tears because they had hurt Carlos so bad? Kendall completely blamed himself, and knew this was probably all his fault. He was the leader, and he had led the others into being jerks to Carlos. Katie acted like Carlos was so important to her just a while ago. Did Katie really like Carlos like a brother more than she liked Kendall? Carlos and Katie were always pretty close, because their maturity levels were about the same. Kendall tried not to think about it, but he knew Katie loved Carlos more than she loved Kendall. Kendall was a horrible brother to her, and Kendall wouldn't complain if Katie told Kendall she hated him. Kendall knew he deserved to be hated more than anyone.

James felt disappointed and devastated. How could this happen to his best friend? Well, Carlos and him weren't really _best_ friends a week ago. James had only read about this in stories and magazines. He never imagined one of his friends from pre-K would commit suicide. Especially not Carlos. Carlos was always so happy and innocent, and James didn't even think Carlos knew that the human being had the ability to kill themselves. How did Carlos even know what 'suicide' meant? No one had the heart to ever tell him about it. James was so disappointed in himself. If he hadn't been such a jerk, maybe this wouldn't have happened. Maybe none of this would have happened. He was Carlos's last hope for comfort, and James had ruined his last hope. Carlos had hoped James would be friends with him, and James had just hurt him in return.

Logan felt anger and a tiny tinge of sadness. He was angry that he was so stupid, treating Carlos like an idiot. Carlos deserved more than that. Logan was the one who deserved to be bullied again. He deserved nothing other than harsh treatment right now. Logan was angry that he started all this. He started treating Carlos badly, and the others followed. He was angry that Carlos committed suicide. And mostly because Carlos committed suicide because of _him_. Logan just thought of this as another repeat of his life. His uncle had committed suicide and died a couple of years ago. Logan loved his Uncle Jeff, and now he was gone, just because he decided to kill himself. Carlos couldn't die, or Logan would blame himself forever.

James had moved into Logan and Kendall's room, claiming he was lonely without Carlos sleeping in there with him. James slept on the floor, saying he didn't need a mattress or anything. James heard Kendall and Logan still making strange noises and not asleep. James couldn't blame them. Who could sleep with all this guilt in their body? Did Carlos feel like this when they blamed him for the stupidest things?

James suddenly remembered something from a few nights before. It was the day that Carlos had committed suicide. James was pretty sure it was that morning, at about 4 A.M. or so. Carlos woke up gasping and whimpering. James winced as he remembered what he had said. He had told Carlos to shut up because he was sleeping. James was so mad at himself. Carlos probably had some nightmare, and James wasn't there to comfort him.

James knew he had been selfish. He had been so selfish, caring more about his beauty sleep than anything else. Carlos was probably suffering more than he would if he didn't get his beauty sleep, and what had James done? Nothing. Nothing at all. That was the fact that made James wanted to kill himself right there. He was such a stupid person!

"Guys?" Someone whispered in the midst of the darkness. James knew it was Kendall. James wanted to tell Kendall that he didn't need to be strong for him and Logan, but Kendall would probably just ignore him.

"Kendall?" Logan whispered, sounding so vulnerable James wanted to give him a hug. "You're awake?"

"Why would I be talking if I wasn't?" Kendall snapped back playfully. Logan sighed.

"Is James awake?" Logan asked quietly. James pretended to be asleep. He made sure his breathing wasn't _too_ even. He really didn't want to talk about anything right now. Luckily, the other two fell for his act, and kept on talking.

"I can't believe we were so mean..." Logan whispered, his voice choked. Kendall muttered something in agreement.

"I don't even know why we got so mad. It was just a mistake, but we got so stinking fed up over it." Kendall said firmly. His voice didn't shake one bit.

"I guess we were just tired of Carlos messing up all the time. But now, thinking back on it, that is just a stupid and lame excuse." Logan said. Unlike Kendall, Logan sounded like he was about to cry. James knew if he were having this conversation with them, he _would_ be crying.

"I thought you were the smart one Logan. You should've thought twice about it before you just came up and told us about Carlos messing up the folders." Kendall told him, a tiny sign of a sneer in his voice.

"What are you talking about? Are you blaming _me_?" Logan asked, anger and a little bit of hurt filling his voice. James could hear Logan's breathing get harder until it was so audible, James thought even Mrs. Knight heard it. Well, she and Katie had ear muffs on, so... maybe not.

"Well... you _did _start it." Kendall retorted.

"Are you kidding me? You're supposed to be the leader! You're supposed to lead us! You led us into this!" Logan cried loudly.

"What are you talking about?"

"This is both of our faults, not only mine!"

"You know what? Who cares! You're waking James up!" Kendall said. The conversation stopped after that. James couldn't believe they stopped arguing because of him. James was the oldest, and felt responsible for the others' well beings. He was supposed to be the oldest and most responsible. But Kendall and Logan were. James was trying to learn to be responsible, but he just couldn't get the hang of it. How did Kendall and Logan do it? He felt as though _he_ should've been the leader of them all, not Kendall. Kendall was younger than him by a month or so. But that was a lot. There was a lot you could learn in a month.

James was glad he wasn't in that conversation. Either _he_ would have been blamed, or he would start blaming someone else, or he'd have to choose a side to be on. James thought Logan _and_ Kendall were both right. Logan was to blame because he was the first to start ignoring Carlos. James and Kendall kind of just followed Logan. They kind of just did it because of their own will. Kendall was to blame, too, because he was the leader. He always stopped the others before they did something that would get them fired or break up the friendship bond.

Kendall had always made James, Logan, and Carlos promise that L.A. wouldn't change them. And now, their best friend was in the hospital because James, Logan, and Kendall had broken their promise. James knew he was to blame, too. He was the selfish one who ignored Carlos when he was hurt in the middle of the night having a nightmare, and he was the one who cared only about himself.

Kendall was mad because he cared about Jo. Logan was mad because he cared about others peoples' well beings, and wanted to help them. James was mad because he had lost his modeling job. Selfish, selfish, selfish.

Soon, James heard Kendall snoring, and Logan soon followed. Logan had never snored that loud, but he muttered in his sleep. James could never make out the words Logan was saying when he slept. Today it was something about pi, or maybe it was pie.

James pinched himself for real, and kicked himself mentally. He was the stupidest person ever. After thinking about how this was all his fault, James Diamond finally fell into a fast and peaceful sleep.

**A/N- James... You're so strange sometimes... Next chapter probably will be Logan's POV! Hope you liked this chapter! Hope you'll like the next chapter!**

**Thank you for the reviews, alerts, and favorites. Love them so much! So much! SO MUCH! I'm screaming for joy on the inside and the outside! **

**I'll try and update soon! Love the reviews! Keep it up, awesomeeees!**


	11. Waking Up

_**Chapter 11**_

Logan woke up the next day with a small headache. His little argument with Kendall the night before still replayed in his mind. Kendall was so... inconsiderate to think that this was _all_ Logan's fault. This was all of their faults, and nothing could change that. All of them played a part in this, and now all of them had to live up the consequences. Carlos had tried to end his short life. Using a knife.

Logan felt so bad because he had been part of the reason this had happened. Poor Carlos didn't even know what he was doing. Carlos didn't know how much he would regret it afterwards. Some people wouldn't regret it, but Carlos wasn't that type of person. He enjoyed life, and had no care in the world. But now, his childlike innocence had sort of been broken. Broken into a few big pieces.

They were going to see Carlos today at the hospital. The doctors weren't sure when Carlos would wake up, but Logan had a strange feeling that today was Carlos's waking day. He just knew it.

After an awkwardly silent breakfast of cereal, pancakes, and sausages, the boys finally set off for the hospital. Mrs. Knight and Katie were staying at home; for fear that Katie still hadn't recovered from being traumatically scarred for life.

Logan started up the car. "I have a feeling Carlos is going to wake up today." He said randomly. _Wow, what a conversation starter, _he thought sarcastically. Logan was bad at starting _and_ ending conversations.

"Yeah. Maybe." Kendall and James said simultaneously. They smiled the smallest smile possible at each other. But it was a smile nonetheless.

"The least we can do is be there when Carlos wakes up." Logan added, faking the brightness in his voice.

"Yeah. It's the least we can do." Kendall and James replied again, laughing at how much time they'd been spending with each other.

"Wow, you guys are saying everything alike today." Logan smiled brightly. Their day was already getting better. Soon, the boys arrived at the hospital entrance in a better mood.

Kendall took a deep breath. "We're all ready, right?" The other two nodded. Kendall whipped the door open, and the three boys walked in, preparing to see what they had done to Carlos.

_line line line line line line_

Carlos was still unconscious. That one little stab had done a lot of damage to him. In a way, it almost killed him.

"Carlos." James whispered softly. He had a trace of guilt and fear in his voice. Kendall just stood there, looking like he didn't know what to do or say.

Logan didn't know what Carlos had been thinking. They must have been really horrible to Carlos if he was going to kill himself because of them. They were horrible, and they deserved to be on a hospital bed, not Carlos. Carlos was everything to Logan; his best friend, his partner, his fun ball of energy, his little brother, his follower in a way, his... everything. Logan just wished he had realized that before he had gone along with his life, being a jerk to Carlos and not noticing the pain Carlos was in.

Carlos was the one who ha been the Good Luck Patrol with Logan. Logan now knew that Carlos was sort of his good luck. If Carlos was gone, Logan would be gone halfway, too.

Suddenly, Logan heard a tiny movement. Carlos was waking up. The Latino stirred in his bed, and suddenly, Logan was standing over him, begging for him to wake up. "Carlos, please open your eyes." Logan whispered desperately.

Carlos did. He blinked open his deep brown eyes. "Where am I?" He asked with his innocent voice that Logan had learned to love. Carlos looked so confused and so lost, like he thought Logan was still mad at him. Well that's what Carlos actually _still_ thought, since he didn't know the guilt Logan felt yet.

"In the hospital. Don't you remember anything?" Logan told him worriedly. What if Carlos lost his memory? What if Carlos didn't remember who he was? Or James or Kendall? What if Carlos wasn't the same cheerful little guy he was before he tried to end his life? What if everything about him was different now? But all his worries were gone when he saw Carlos nod.

"I... I tried to do sooside." Carlos said regretfully. Logan smiled.

"Its suicide, buddy." Kendall told Carlos, looking amused. Carlos just shrugged and closed his eyes again.

"So... so you guys don't hate me anymore?" Carlos asked quietly, tears forming in his eyes. Logan immediately shook his head vigorously.

"No! And we're really really _really_ sorry, Carlos. We don't know what came over us. Blaming you for everything, that was really stupid of us. I'm sorry that I blamed you for messing up my folders. If I had just double checked it, I would have found that I mixed it up. That was completely my fault. I'm so sorry, Carlitos." Logan whispered sadly. Carlos held his arms out, and Logan gave him a big hug. Only Carlos was able to make hugs feel grown up and childish at the same time.

"And I'm really sorry I blamed you for messing up my date with Jo. That was really just her own stupid problem. If she dumped me, then she wasn't the right girl for me. There's so many more girls at the Palm Woods, and they're all better than Jo will ever be. She was just a stupid soul who I fell for accidentally." Kendall admitted. He didn't care about Jo, and Jo didn't care about him. It all worked out.

"But... but I like Jo." Carlos said, hating that Kendall and Jo were breaking up. Carlos really liked how Jo treated him, and wondered what would happen if Jo heard the whole story from Carlos. She may hate Carlos after that, but at least Kendall would forgive him, right?

"I'm really sorry, Carlos. None of this is your fault." Kendall added finally. Carlos just nodded and sighed.

James stood up from the chair he was wordlessly sitting on through this whole thing. "Carlos, I'm sorry for getting mad at you because you punched my face. I mean, I just really wanted the job, but now I know that being a beautiful, famous model isn't worth it if you weren't my best friend anymore, Carlos. It wasn't worth it anymore if you weren't there. I'm really really sorry, man." James said quietly. Carlos had to lean in to hear what James was saying.

"It's not your fault, James. If I was just smarter, maybe I wouldn't have taken it literally. It's kinda really my fault, James." Carlos said sadly, looking down at his hands. James looked up and gaped.

"What! This is not, nor will _ever_ be, your fault, Carlos. Never think that again." James replied immediately. How could Carlos blame himself for this? Carlos was too modest for his own good sometimes. Like now.

"Thanks, guys. I thought you really hated me. I mean, you guys just laughed at me so much, and it just felt like I was being bullied all over again..." Carlos's eyes filled with tears that spilled out. He started sobbing because he really thought his friends had left him all alone. Just like he was alone when his dad abused him. Carlos was so scared the past few days, and he felt like he was unwanted.

Logan felt guilt fill his small body. This was all their fault. They made Carlos feel unwanted and unneeded in unimportant. They made him feel like he was bullied, like he had been bullied by Clyde. Logan almost wanted to throw up when he thought about how similar he had been to Clyde those past few days, maybe even week. What had been wrong with him?

"Carlos. Listen to me." Kendall took Carlos's chin and lifted it up until Carlos saw Kendall's pale face. "You are the most important person in my life. Don't ever think otherwise." He said firmly.

James nodded and grinned. "You're the most important person in my life, too, Carlos."

Logan nodded his head. "Mine, too. I couldn't live without you, Carlos."

Carlos seemed comforted, but something else seemed to be bothering him. Logan couldn't tell what. He just dropped it for the time being; he didn't want to pressure Carlos any further to admit what he had been feeling until he was ready. That was the least Logan could do for Carlos.

"I believe you." Carlos whispered. He wiped the salty tears away from his face, and looked up at them. "I love you guys. Not in the really gross way." He added quickly, not wanting them to get the wrong idea.

"You'll always be our little brother, Carlos. You'll always be out little boy." Kendall told him gently, messing up Carlos's black hair. Carlos smiled for real. It had been one of the first smiles for... forever. Well, only since Kendall, James, and Logan started hating him more than skunks.

For the first time since weeks ago, Carlos finally felt a little bit wanted. A little bit needed in the world.

**A/N- Carlos wakes up! Yay! Don't you all just love it when Carlos wakes up from unconsciousness? I sure do!**

**Thanks for the awesome reviews! They are my life! And the alerts and favorites are amazing, too! Love them, too! Please review this chapter! It really encourages me to keep this story going strong! Please please review! I am so grateful to all who do!**


	12. Homecoming

_**Chapter 12**_

"James! Come on! We're leaving!" Kendall shouted. James was currently combing his hair and staring into his 'lucky' mirror. "Carlos is gonna get lonely!"

"Alright, sorry!" James called back quickly, giving his hair one last pat and walking out of the bathroom. "I'm coming, Mr. Impatience!"

"I just don't want Carlos to feel that we're abandoning him _again!_" Kendall said honestly. The conversation stopped and the tension was turned up twenty notches. None of them could forget what they had done to Carlos. They hoped it would never, ever, happen again.

Today Carlos was coming home. He only stayed at the hospital because the doctors said he was having headaches, and sometimes felt dizzy. Not because of any real bad injuries.

The three boys arrived at the hospital, eager to take Carlos back home. Honestly, they had all missed Carlos's brightness and his cheerfulness. The house was _way_ too quiet without their youngest friend there. The house was so quiet. Kendall was watching hockey games silently on TV. For some reason, Kendall didn't like to hear any noise when watching hockey games. No one ever knew why. James was reading fashion magazines, looking for a modeling job to get him on the cover of girls' magazines. Logan was reading medical stuff, and studying for nothing. He studied everything he read, and gave himself quizzes on the stuff he had read. The house was usually really quiet, until Carlos came in and broke something.

The boys used to be somewhat annoyed of Carlos's enthusiasm for everything in life. And by everything, they really meant _everything._ Carlos got excited over a crumb on the ground shaped like Abraham Lincoln.

"Carlos! We're gonna take you home. Right now!" Logan added lamely. Carlos grinned and jumped out of his hospital bed. He winced slightly when his feet touched the ground. Walking made him dizzy. The doctors said he hit his head too hard when he fell. It was called a 'concussion', or something like that. Carlos had always been bored when he heard medical terms, and tuned out right when he heard a word like 'hyperthermia'.

"Woah, easy there, buddy!" Kendall held out his hand for Carlos to take. "You gotta take it easy for the next few days. That's what the doctors said." Logan told him.

James rolled his eyes. "Only _you_ would pay attention long enough to hear what the doctors said. But that's why we need you here, man!" He said playfully, receiving a punch on the shoulder from Logan.

"But I still love you, Dr. Logie!" Carlos said, smirking. Logan glared at him.

"I would hit you, but just be lucky you're injured right now." Logan said through gritted teeth, fists clenched in fake anger. Carlos just shrugged and ran out of the hospital, not caring if his head felt woozy afterwards.

"He's gonna be the death of me." Kendall muttered, running after him. Logan and James glanced at each other and laughed, following Kendall out of the hospital. Out of all their worries before.

Outside, Carlos sat down on the grass, his hands gripping his head. "Ow, Kendall, my head hurts." He mumbled. "It's hurts a lot." Carlos whimpered. Kendall wrapped his arm around Carlos, and they slowly proceeded onto the BTR mobile. Carlos sat in the back, his face buried in Kendall's shirt.

"You better now?" Kendall asked, his face scrunched up in concern. Carlos nodded meekly, scratching his arm with his other hand. "Yeah. I'm fine." He muttered quickly. Kendall just smiled gently and patted his head.

"And sorry we were late. James took his _stupid_ time taking care of his hair!" Logan added as he started the car. Logan shot a glare at James, who was yet _again_ combing his hair.

Kendall turned and saw Carlos's eyes filling with tears. He started sniffling and wiping his eyes furiously. "What's wrong, Carlitos?" Kendall worriedly asked. Carlos looked up at him, his eyes already red.

"D-don't say s-s-stupid." That was all Carlos needed to say for the other three to understand. Carlos was sensitive to words like stupid and imbecile and idiot now. All because he probably had been having bunches of nightmares about Kendall, James, and Logan saying those words to him hatefully.

"Oh... We're sorry, Carlos. We'll never say it again." Logan promised him, his voice filled with sympathy and even more guilt. Carlos just nodded and lay down on Kendall's lap.

"Awww..." James whispered, grinning. Kendall glared at him, causing the pretty boy to turn back around and stare outside the passenger seat's window.

As Carlos lay on Kendall's lap, he couldn't help thinking about how sensitive he was being right now. He was crying because his friend had said the word 'stupid'. Why was he being so stinking sensitive? Even a baby wouldn't cry when someone said 'stupid'. So why did he? Carlos closed his eyes and thought about the horrible nightmares he'd been having. Once, Logan pushed him into a bear trap. Another time, Kendall beat him up with a hockey stick. Another time, James was throwing broken pieces of a mirror at him and calling him names. Names he never wanted to hear again.

And of course, there was the cliff one. It was one of the worst nightmares yet. Carlos shuddered and nodded when Kendall asked if he was okay. Carlos stopped thinking about it. _It's over. You're friends aren't going to be mean anymore._ A voice said in his head. Carlos smiled to himself and settled into a deep sleep. Suddenly, he was in Nightmare Land again.

_Carlos was at home, staring at the long scar that had formed on his wrist. They had just come home from the hospital. Carlos went down the swirly slide, because he hadn't been on it in such a long time._

_ "Guys! I'm going on the swirly slide! Watch me!" He shouted enthusiastically. They guys rolled their eyes, but sat down to watch. Carlos took a deep breath, and plunged down the yellow tube of plastic. "Wheeee!" He yelled. He was having a blast, without a care in the world. _

_ Then, suddenly, he stopped. Carlos opened his tightly closed eyes, wondering how the ride was over so quickly. He saw that he was blocked by something. It seemed like a rubber wall. And it was covered in blood. It looked really bright... but it looked like blood to Carlos. Carlos tried to push the wall out, but he couldn't. He was stuck in the swirly slide._

_ Carlos turned around and tried to climb up, only to find another rubber thing blocking his way. How did that get there? "Kendall? James? Logan? I'm stuck in here! Help me!" Carlos yelled, sounding panicked. He heard laughs outside of the slide._

_ "Oh Carlos... you think we've forgiven you? Not a chance, buddy!" James sneered, making a half laugh half grunt kind of noise. Carlos whimpered. He wasn't able to breath well in here. _

_ "You think we're actually friends again? Are you kidding me?" Logan's voice added, sounding satisfied. Carlos gasped for breath._

_ "That's what you said-" Carlos started. His eyes filled with tears. He couldn't breathe at all now. He tried to take in air, but all the air was gone._

_ "We lie, Carlos! That was one of our best pranks yet!" Kendall finished off, laughing his head off. "Whoo! Can't believe you fell for it!"_

_ Carlos pushed and pulled the rubber object, trying to get out. But the wasted energy made him even dizzier. He had no air, and felt like he was going to faint again, like the time he committed suicide. 8674_

_ "P-please just let m-me out, guys! I c-can't b-breathe in here!" Carlos begged desperately. The guys just laughed and laughed, calling his names that Carlos thought he was never going to get called again. "Please!" But no one came to give him air. Carlos started feeling sweat dripping off his face, his body, his everything. He felt like he was burning up. Worst of all, he couldn't breathe. Carlos saw darkness covering his vision, no matter how hard and wide he tried to open his eyes._

"Carlos! Carlos, wake up!" Carlos heard a gentle voice telling him to wake up. James. "Don't scare us like this!"

"What?" Carlos opened his eyes, and saw three relieved faces staring down at him. Carlos weakly looked around, and saw that he was in apartment 2J. Did the guys save him?

"I think you were having a nightmare, buddy. You were whimpering and begging someone to help you." Logan told him gently, not wanting to confuse the Latino. Carlos nodded and sniffled. He was still so hot, and sweat dripped down his face. He couldn't tell if it was from the nightmare, or something else.

"Want to tell us about it?" Kendall urged him. Carlos nodded, and told his three friends every detail. His friends listened without interrupting through the whole thing. Carlos was a stutterer, especially when he was scared, so it took a while to finish the story. But Kendall, James, and Logan listened patiently, knowing that they had caused Carlos to have these horrible nightmares. Bad consequences always followed after someone was selfish or careless. Only this time, the victim had to pay the price.

**A/N- Worst. Ending. Ever. WEE! But... whatevs... can't think of a better one. Carlos is kinda recovering... yeah... Don't know what else to say without giving away anything.**

**Thank you so much for the great, positive, optimistic, threatening, awesome, encouraging, and just 100% amazing reviews! No matter how long or how short, it always means a lot to me! Thank you SO much, guys and girls out their in the FanFiction world! Please keep them going! Love you guys! (in a friendly way, of course!)**

**I'll update soon, so peace out, everyone! **


	13. Sinister

_**Chapter 13**_

"Hey, Carlos?" Logan gently pushed Carlos until he woke up from the nap he was taking after the nap he had just taken. The one where he'd had the nightmare. Carlos sure was sleeping a lot. Maybe it was just the medication the doctors prescribed, but Logan wasn't sure.

"Yeah?" Carlos mumbled, still half asleep. Logan felt his forehead. Sure enough, it was burning up big time. Logan walked into the kitchen, where Mrs. Knight always kept the thermometer. He walked back, and stuck it into Carlos's warm ear. Carlos pulled away.

"What are you doing, Logie?" He asked cautiously. Logan just gave him a look that said 'This is what's best for you.' Carlos shut up and watched. When Logan took the thermometer out, he checked the temperature. 102.1. That wasn't good.

"Logie? What is that?" Carlos asked innocently, starting to poke it. Logan took it away from him and put it on the table next to them.

"Buddy, you're sick. Fever." Logan explained in the simplest words he could think of. Carlos nodded hesitantly.

"Aw. But why?" Logan sighed.

"It happens to everyone, buddy. Especially when they just came home from the hospital. The hospital's full of germs and dirty stuff. It's really easy to get sick, especially for a teenager like you." Logan told him. Carlos just slumped into the couch, burying his body underneath his blanket. He didn't feel good. At all. Carlos hated being sick.

"I'll get you some medicine." Logan went to the kitchen and got the yucky liquid out from the mostly unused cabinet. He dumped some in a big spoon, and brought it to Carlos, who was hiding underneath his blanket.

"I don't want to eat yucky stuff." He whined. Logan rolled his eyes and stuffed the spoon into Carlos's mouth when he came up out of his thick blanket.

"See? Not too bad." Logan smiled at him, and Carlos just shrugged back. "You'll be better in no time." Carlos coughed and cuddled back underneath the bed, sure that Logan was telling the truth.

_line line line line_

Logan was right. Carlos was all better in a few days. On Wednesday, he was all ready to go and be his energetic self again. He ran out to the Palm Woods Park, ready to have fun again. He had completely forgotten what had happened before, resulting in a stay at the hospital. He was that careless little teenage boy again. Just like before.

Kendall, James, and Logan were all gone again, but they made sure that Carlos didn't feel like they were ditching him. "We'll be back. Promise." They had said at the same time, earning a couple of laughs from Carlos.

Carlos walked down the street, humming some ridiculous song. He had nothing to do, but it sure was better than sitting in bed at home, with his head burning and his stomach feeling like a twister.

Suddenly, time moved like lightning. Carlos saw a face he never wanted to see again. Clyde. Clyde. The big bully Clyde. He bent Carlos's arm backward.

"Ow! Stop it, Clyde!" Carlos begged him, trying to be as tough as he could. Clyde just glared at him and let go of his aching arm. "Ow." Carlos rubbed his arm gingerly, wondering if it was broken or not. He wasn't crying, so it probably wasn't broken or anything bad. But it could have been.

"Helmet Head. Tell me, is your daddy a cop?" Clyde spoke to him like he was a 3 year old kid, and that made Carlos uncomfortable. He'd rather have Clyde spit at him angrily than to have to hear him make that noise again.

"Y-yeah." Carlos didn't know where this was going.

"Well, a few months ago, your stupid dad-"

Carlos gulped. "He's not stupid!" He retorted." Clyde slapped him right on the cheek. Carlos whimpered and shut up.

Clyde's eyes darkened. "Don't talk back to me." Carlos nodded quickly, not wanting to be hurt again.

"Your stupid dad arrested my dad yesterday. And now he's going on trial. And he's obviously going to get a stupid death penalty. And he's gonna die!" Clyde yelled at Carlos. Carlos leaned back, confused.

"Your dad's gonna die?" He asked softly. Clyde just nodded and grabbed on to Carlos's shirt.

"It's your dad's fault. So now I'm taking my anger out on you!" Clyde screamed, and punched Carlos right in the face. Carlos felt blood leaking down his face, and wondered where the blood came from. His mouth? His nose? His eyes? His _skull?_ It hurt even more than when Clyde twisted his arm.

"What d-d-did your dad d-do?" Carlos asked, not wanting to know the answer. Clyde glared daggers at Carlos, narrowing his eyes.

"He did what I'm about to do to you." He answered bluntly. Carlos stared at him , both scared and confused.

"I'm gonna kidnap you, and then I'm gonna murder you just like my dad murdered this friend of his." Clyde hissed at Carlos. Carlos's mind filled with fear. _No, this can't be happening._ This couldn't be happening. He couldn't die yet.

The next thing Carlos knew, he was running as fast as his feet could carry him. Clyde yelled after him, his hot breath on Carlos's neck. Carlos ran and ran until he finally arrived at the Palm Woods. He crashed into somebody. Carlos screamed and kicked the person in the shin. Carlos opened his eyes cautiously, and saw that it wasn't Clyde. It was Kendall and Jo.

"Kendall!" Carlos buried his face into Kendall's polo shirt, not sure if Clyde was still behind him or not. Kendall stared at Carlos, confused and a bit annoyed that he'd ruined him and Jo's romantic moment. "Kendall!" Carlos kept on sobbing into Kendall's already soaked shirt.

"What's wrong, buddy?" Kendall said, eyes narrowing in concern. Carlos just whimpered and kept on sobbing.

"C-clyde said that h-he would k-kill me!" Carlos blurted out, his sobs slowly subsiding. Jo gasped beside Kendall. "He said he was g-going to k-kidnap me and then m-murder me b-b-because his dad got arrested by my d-dad." Carlos said, not able to keep it in anymore. Kendall rubbed Carlos's back in circles, trying to comfort his younger friend.

"It's okay, Carlitos. We'll protect you. Clyde's not going to lay a finger on you anymore. Were you running from him?" Kendall asked with a gentle voice. Carlos just nodded vigorously.

"Kendall, I-I'm so s-s-scared." Carlos sniffled. Kendall just nodded and stoked Carlos's short black hair. "I d-don't want t-to die." Kendall looked at Jo and shrugged. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't tell if Clyde was actually going to kill Carlos or if he was just threatening to. Jo just gave Carlos a sympathetic look, and waved goodbye to Kendall.

"It's okay, buddy, he was probably just kidding." Kendall reassured Carlos. Carlos looked up hopefully.

"R-really?" Kendall nodded. Carlos smiled. "Thanks, Kendall." Kendall just grinned and walked back to Apartment 2J with Carlos by his side.

But when Carlos finally fell asleep in his room, his head buried underneath his soft blanket, Kendall knew something more sinister was going on.

**A/N- I am SO SUPER DUPER sorry I haven't updated sooner. My Internet broke down, and just worked again 2 days ago... That still doesn't explain the slow update... Well, SORRY!**

**I have a feeling this was a horrible chapter, and a super short one, so... sorry bout that, too... Please review and give constructive critisism? I love all your reviews, so PLEASE keep them going! Love ya all! (in a friendly way!)**


	14. Strange Things

_**Chapter 14**_

"Kendall? You alive over there?" James waved his hand in front of Kendall's face. He had called Kendall's name four times now, and Kendall seemed like he was off in space, or somewhere like that. Kendall snapped out of his daze, and looked up to see James staring at him in concern and a tiny bit of amusement.

"Oh... yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking." Kendall told him firmly. James raised an eyebrow. He was the only one who could do that. Kendall had always tried, but he could never do it.

"Is there something wrong, dude?" James asked. Kendall sighed, and decided to tell the truth.

"Yeah." Kendall paused for a moment, not sure of his decision. "Carlos told me today that... that Clyde said he would murder him." James widened his eyes, not sure how to respond to that.

"He came and broke my date with Jo. He knew what happened last time, and I _knew_ for sure that he was scared of what would happen if that happened again. So I'm pretty sure Clyde wasn't kidding. If Carlos would mess up my date, then it must've been for something important." Kendall reasoned. He was sure that Carlos wasn't hiding anything from him.

"Then... what are we going to do about it?" James asked quietly, not wanting to believe this was true. Clyde had gone too far. He was coming to kill Carlos, and there was probably nothing they could do about it.

"What else can we do? Call the police." Kendall turned suddenly and saw Logan sitting right behind them. Where'd he come from? Logan seemed to read Kendall's mind, for he rolled his eyes and gave Kendall an "I was right here, you idiot" kind of look.

"But... what if Clyde finds out and then he tries to get Carlos before the police come?" James asked, worry and frustration evident in his eyes.

"How is that even possible?" Logan retorted. "We could just call the stupid police right now, and then he'd take Clyde to jail." He added.

"Well... we don't have proof yet, so we can't accuse him until he is proven guilty." James said thoughtfully.

"That's the polices' job, stupid!" Logan sighed, feeling frustrated.

"Why don't we go _ask_ Carlos." Kendall suggested firmly, not wanting to hear his two friends bicker any longer. It got really annoying after a while. The other two boys nodded, forgetting about their arguing, and marched into Carlos's room. Carlos was sitting up in bed, tears rolling down his cheeks. He didn't even know why he was crying. He just was.

"Carlitos? You okay?" James asked quietly. Carlos nodded and smiled. He looked down and took a shaky breath.

"Y-yeah." He said finally. Logan wrinkled his eyebrows in concern. Carlos needed to take his mind off what he had experienced with Clyde. It was tragic and traumatizing. Logan shuddered at the thought of a bully threatening to kill _him._ He sure wouldn't want _that _to happen.

"Hey... Why don't we go to the park? We can go throw a football around." Logan started, giving Kendall and James a glance. They smiled knowingly, and quickly agreed. After a few moments of hesitation, Carlos nodded, too. The boys set off, with Carlos holding their football. This time, the guys didn't care at all when Carlos started bouncing the football on their backs. At least he was occupied, right?

When they got there, the boys started throwing the football around, telling each other strange things they had seen the past week or so. Logan talked about seeing this fat woman claiming she was related to Tyler's mom, Kendall talked about seeing this fat African American stealing a bag from an innocent woman, and how some old dude chased the thief and got the bag back. Somehow. James talked about how Cuda just came out with a new spray that turned you purple.

"Carlos? What about you?" Kendall asked conversationally. Carlos just shrugged, honestly not being able to think of anything.

"I can't think of anything... Sorry." He added quickly, afraid Kendall or James or even Logan would get mad at him or something. The other three saw this, and sighed guiltily. They had caused Carlos to be so cautious... he was even _scared_ of them now. What had they done to him?

They had shattered Carlos's beautiful innocence. They made their youngest friend feel as if they were strangers, _bullies,_ who would stop being his friend any second. But they weren't. Not anymore, at least. They could never shake off the fact that they were such jerks to Carlos before.

"No, no... It's okay, we're not mad at you." James said as firmly as he could, with no waver in his voice. Carlos just nodded casually and threw the ball at Kendall as hard as he could. Which wasn't really hard, but it was hard enough for Kendall to have to focus on only that.

None of them could forget what they had done to Carlos.

_line line line line line _

Meanwhile back in Apartment 2J, Mrs. Knight and Katie Knight were heading out of the apartment. They were heading to the mall to buy clothes, food, purses, lip gloss... anything that girls and women usually enjoyed. Katie was in an especially good mood, since Carlos was all better and her other three brothers were not jerks anymore.

She swung the door open for her mom, who went out quickly and happily. Then, she swung the door wide open for herself, and skipped out of the apartment quickly, catching up with her mom in the elevator. But before the door closed, someone caught it, and slipped inside the foreign apartment of Apartment 2J.

_line line line line line _

"What a workout that was!" Logan said, wiping the sweat off his forehead. The others agreed, feeling all their energy drained from their time spent at the park throwing a football around. The things such a small object could do to you.

Carlos ran into the apartment first, and caught sight of something that would give him more energy. An energy drink. It said "Energy Drink" on the bottle. The bottle looked strange to Carlos, but he assumed that it was just Katie putting some Gatorade into a plastic bottle. Carlos picked it up, and drank it all in a few seconds, before the others trudged in.

Carlos ran into his room, not knowing what to do. He had all his almost endless energy back again, and he didn't want to be there to mess up Logan's homework or Kendall and James's girls. He lay down in his bed, kicking his feet back and forth, back and forth.

Outside of the energetic Latino's room, Logan and James were arguing over something useless.

"It's obviously _not_ an energy drink!" Logan shouted loudly. James shook his head. "No! It _is!_ It's just in a different bottle. Maybe Katie did it or something." He argued confidently.

Logan sighed. "There are no nutrition facts on the bottle. And how do you know Katie did it? Maybe it's some kind of drug or medicine Mrs. Knight put in there to trick us into thinking it's an energy drink."

"But why the heck would she do that?" James retorted, getting frustrated.

"Who knows?" Logan said. Kendall groaned and stood up.

"Guys! Shut up! You're making _me_ need Aspirin! Someone drank it already, so why do guys still care?" He shouted, sounding annoyed. James and Logan soon found this a good point, for they shut up about it and got back to playing video games again with Kendall. Soon, they walked out of the apartment, shouting to Carlos that they'd be back soon. They all went their separate ways.

Back in Carlos and James's room, Carlos was feeling a little bit dizzy. He barely heard his three friends call to him, but he heard it. Carlos felt like he was going to throw up, but he didn't. He quickly walked out of the room, trying to ignore the agonizing pain in his head.

He got a glass of water and tried to drink from it. But when he finished pouring water into it, black spots started dancing in his vision. Carlos fell to the floor, his water glass breaking into a bunch of different pieces.

**A/N- This was hard to write... No clue why, but it was hard to write! :)**

**Sorry for the slow update again, I've been busy going to places these day... You know, the last few days of summer vacation... It's gone so fast. :( Wish school could be like that.**

**Well, LOVE THE REVIEWS! LOVE ALL OF YOU! Please review this chapter and tell me what you think happened... Because I kinda think it obvious by now, considering all the obvious clues I gave in the chapter!**

**I'll try and update soon! Peace out!**


	15. Darkness

_**Chapter 15**_

Clyde Benton smirked, and got out of the closet he had been hiding in all this time. He had heard Logan and James's argument and Kendall trying to shut them up and just play the stupid video game. He heard them leaving the apartment, and he knew this was his chance. He couldn't believe his genius plan had worked! It had actually worked!

Clyde picked Carlos up and threw him into a huge potato sack. It was classic, but it would trick everyone, making them think Clyde actually cared enough for potatos to get them a sack. Good thing Carlos was small. Clyde grinned like an idiot. "You're mine now, Garcia." He whispered to himself.

He walked casually through the Palm Woods. No one stopped to question him. Nobody. Except for one person. Jo Taylor. She bumped into him on accident, and stared at the potato sack in confusion. "You like potatos?" She asked skeptically. Clyde just smirked and told her that yes, he loved potatos.

"Duh. Who doesn't?" Jo just stared at Clyde doubtfully and walked away without saying a word. Clyde breathed out a sigh of relief. He wasn't caught yet.

Finally, he got to his car, and threw Carlos into the back seat. This plan was perfect. One of his best yet. Clyde chuckled evilly, and started the engine. Then, he drove out of the Palm Woods, and into his dad's house many miles away. No way was anyone going to know what had happened to Carlos Garcia. Because Clyde Benton had finally, _finally_, gotten his revenge. "This is for you, dad." He whispered softly to himself, glad he had finally done something to please his father.

_line line line line line_

"Hey! Where's Carlitos?" James asked curiously. Kendall shrugged, and Logan had a worried look on his face.

"He didn't leave a note. What if something happened to him?" Logan suggested warily. Carlos couldn't get hurt again. He couldn't. Logan could _not_ let anything happen to Carlos ever again.

"Oh, don't worry... Carlos Garcia _never_ leaves notes. He doesn't take the time for that. He'll probably be back in no time." Kendall reasurred him. Logan still looked doubtful. What if something had happened?

"Yeah, man... Don't worry too much. You'll grow white hair." James told him, causing Logan to relax a little bit. Kendall laughed.

"Worst quote I've ever heard." He said. James looked offended, though Logan knew it was fake.

"It wasn't a quote, smarty pants." He retorted. Logan just sighed and rolled his eyes. What a dumb and useless thing to be arguing about. He still wasn't sure if Carlos was okay, but he dropped it for the time being. He'd wait until night, when Carlos was sure to come back for dinner. He _loved _dinner, and wouldn't even miss it for their annual Prank Day.

He listened, feeling a bit annoyed, as Kendall and James kept on arguing over who knows what. This happened _way_ too often. "I gotta get new friends." He muttered, walking into his room to read the new book he had gotten from his grandparents last year.

But when dinner came, and Logan walked out of his room, Carlos still wasn't home yet. He was really worried now. By the looks of it, Kendall and James were, too. "Where's Carlos?" Logan asked, already knowing the answer.

Kendall sighed. "Not home yet." He muttered. At that moment, all three of them knew that something was wrong. Carlos had either gotten kinapped or hurt. Or maybe even... well, none of them wanted to think about it.

"Who would have hurt him?" James asked quietly. Logan thought for a moment, and remembered Kendall telling him and James about Clyde threatening to murder him. Logan gasped. Kendall gasped a few seconds after. James still looked confused, and then seemed to suddenly remember, too.

"Clyde." The three whispered together.

_With Carlos..._

Carlos woke up with an agonizing headache. His head hurt so bad, like he'd been suffocating from air for a long time. He found himself in a dark room that smelled humid and had dust everywhere. Where was he? All he remembered was drinking something, becoming really dizzy... and potatos.

"Hello? Kendall?" He called out, looking for Kendall. Kendall could help him, right? Where was Kendall? His thoughts were all jumbled up due to the headache he was currently having.

"James?" Carlos whimpered. No one answered. Carlos gulped in fear. None of his friends knew where he was. _He_ didn't even know where he was. "Logie?" He whispered, knowing there'd be no answer, either. He was lost, and in a whole different dark world of his.

Suddenly, he heard a way too familiar voice. "Hey, wimp, how you like your new home?" It sneered. Carlos knew it was Clyde immediately. No one else would be or sound so cruel and intimidating. Maybe Gustavo, but... never mind.

"Let me o-out of here!" Carlos said, trying _so_ hard to sound intimidating. But he couldn't, and his voice shook. Hard. Clyde just laughed and kicked him.

"Dude, you're such a wimp. You're scared of _me?_" He laughed and laughed. Carlos frowned. Duh, he was scared of Clyde Benton. His friends weren't, except for Logan, but none of them were as scared of the big bully as Carlos was. He completely hated him, and hated to be near him. And now, he was here with him in a dark room.

"You can't see me, but I can." Clyde snickered. Carlos suddenly realized that he had a blindfold over his eyes. The room was dark already, but somehow, the blindfold just made it even darker.

Suddenly, he felt Carlos hit him with something hard. Carlos winced. It probably made a bruise or something on his back. Ouch. Then, something else hit him. The horrible thing was, Carlos didn't know where the next thing would hit him. More things came flying towards him, and each hurt more and more each time. Then suddenly, everything stopped, and Carlos saw lights blinding his blindfolded vision. The lights were on. Carlos ripped off his blindfolds, the white light blinding him. He struggled to open his eyes.

He saw Clyde standing there, this spiky thing in his hand. It reminded Carlos of a spiky puffer fish toy, but the spikes were spikier. Carlos felt the prickles throughout his body, and he winced painfully.

Clyde smirked. "Aww, are you hurt? Oh... too bad." He said in a sympathetic voice. Faker. Even Carlos could tell. "Too bad." He added again. Carlos decided to swallow his pride and beg Clyde to get him out of here.

"Where are we?" Carlos asked, not wanting to know the answer. His friends would probably never find him.

"My dad's basement. Since, you know, he's in jail now. And he's probably gonna die anytime next week." He said, suddenly sounding sad. Carlos felt bad for him. He cared about everyone, even his enemies. But he knew he had to stop caring about Clyde. He was here to hurt him and his friends. And he couldn't put his friendship and his life in danger.

"Can you... get me out of here?" Carlos asked, sounding like he was deperate and begging. Which he definitely _was_. But he didn't want to show it.

"Oh.. NO WAY AM I GETTING YOU OUT OF HERE! Never! Your friends won't love you anymore and they'll never come to get you! Say goodbye to your useless life!" Clyde shouted. Carlos flinched and tears filled his brown eyes when Clyde turned off the lights and left him all alone in the basement. He was horribly scared of the dark. There seemed to be monsters everywhere, waiting to eat him up. And Carlos could do nothing about it.

Except wait patiently for the monsters to come and gobble him up.

**A/N- Uh oh... Carlos is in trouble! What do ya guys think about THAT? **

**Thank you all SO much for the great positive reviews! So grateful for them!**

**Peace out everyone! And I'll try and update soon!**


	16. Found

_**Chapter 16**_

Carlos dreamed about his friends helping him escape the nightmare he was living in currently. He dreamed about dancing corndogs, and kittens and rainbows. All of that seemed perfect until he woke up. He was still in a dark room with no light, but this time, sun shone through a window. It blinded him, and Carlos had to turn away.

He was in a small room, and he couldn't see a door anywhere. Though he did see a rope hanging from the ceiling, but he didn't know what that had to do with anything. He hoped that his friends were coming to find him now.

"Good morning, Carlos." Carlos heard Clyde's horrible voice through the walls everywhere. Was there a hidden microphone or something? Carlos had no clue where the voice was coming from. But obviously, Clyde was in a different room than he was right now.

"Hope you had a good sleep last night, because today, you won't be getting any sleep. At all. Well... maybe you will, but not in the way you want to. Or the way you're used to." Clyde laughed hard and snorted. Carlos looked around in confusion, still looking for the source of the voice.

"Oh yeah... don't be doing anything stupid. I can see you with the hidden cameras I've hidden all over this empty white room. You can't see them, dork, because you're so blind and so stupid." Clyde added smugly. Carlos frowned. He wasn't stupid, was he? Well, maybe he was, because he couldn't even see the hidden cameras.

"My friends a-are gonna come f-find me, and then the p-police will come a-and take you to j-jail." Carlos said, trying to sound confident. But he had a tiny little bit of doubt in his voice. Clyde caught it.

He smirked. "How are you so sure, Carlos? Your friends hated you, remember? What makes you think they've forgiven you for being so stupid?" He asked. Carlos sniffed.

"They've already forgiven me... they said so. And they wouldn't betray me." Carlos said firmly. Clyde was just messing with him and he couldn't take it anymore. His friends wouldn't betray him like that. Would they?

"Oh Carlos... then why did they betray you last time? Your friends lie, Carlos. They hate you." Clyde sighed like he was talking to his little brother. Carlos felt his lower lip quiver slightly.

"N-no they don't." He got out finally.

"Idiot, _yes they do._ They hate dragging you around everywhere. You're just a stupid boy holding them up from doing what they want to do. You mess up their lives, screw up." Clyde told him. Carlos could feel his eyes getting watery. _He's just kidding..._ He tried to assure himself, but he knew what Clyde said was true. He _was_ a screw up. He _was_ a stupid idiot who Kendall and James and Logan just dragged around because they felt sorry for him.

He was just a useless hold up.

Carlos wiped a hand over his eyes. Clyde laughed over the hidden speakers. "Poor you. No one likes you anymore. But you can do me a favor, and then I'll like you." Clyde suggested. Carlos knew this wasn't good. But he asked about it anyways.

"What do you want me to do?" Carlos asked, that horrible curiosity getting the better of him. Clyde cleared his throat.

"My dad... is obviously gonna die." He stated bluntly. "So, I want you to defend him as a witness. Tell the judge that he didn't kill anyone. And then, I want you to tell the judge that your dad was guilty. Your dad murdered someone. No one would think you're lying. Because... he's your dad." Clyde finished.

Dread and fear filled Carlos. No, this couldn't be happening. No. He would do anything else... anything but that. He couldn't betray his dad and _lie_. Carlos had never lied before. Not about something that big. He couldn't lie and betray the person who'd been taking care of him all this time. It was so obvious, Carlos didn't know why Clyde would ask.

"No. I-I can't do that." Carlos replied immediately.

Clyde sighed. "I knew you would say that, buddy. So... let me bribe you. If you don't do it, then I'll leave you in this room forever until you freeze to death." Clyde argued. Carlos didn't know how that was bribing, but he wasn't doing it.

"No. I'm s-still now doing it." Carlos said firmly, completely sure of his choice.

Clyde clucked his tongue. "Bad mistake, Garcia, because now... you're going to freeze to death. One of the worst ways to die." Clyde laughed evilly, but Carlos could sense the disappointment in his voice. Carlos was happy that he had let Clyde down. But he was scared that he would die from the cold. Already, the room was starting to feel cooler.

Carlos sneezed and shivered. It was like standing outside in the winter with no jacket and no hat and no gloves and no scarf and no anything. Except his short sleeved shirt and his short pants. And his worn out old sneakers. For once, Carlos wished he had long hair like the Jennifers or even James.

In a half hour or so, Carlos's teeth were chattering, and his lips felt numb. He could swear he was freezing into an ice cube, even though he knew that wasn't possible. He needed warmth, or he was going to die. "So cold." Carlos said quietly, his teeth chattering loudly. He never knew his teeth could make such loud noises.

He wrapped his arms around himself, and curled up into a ball. How much colder could this room get? Was it an igloo, or what? Carlos could feel his vision getting dizzier and dizzier. He was _so so so _cold. _So_ cold. Freezing. He couldn't feel his fingers or his toes, or any part of his body, for that matter.

A gust of freezing cold air blew at him, and he finally passed out again. All he saw was black and ice cold, ice cold igloos, and the snow, and the... That was all Carlos processed before he completely passed out for real.

_line line line line_

"Address?" Officer Jones asked Logan. Logan read it from the sheet of notepaper he had written on. Logan searched up Clyde's dad's name and found his address. Good thing his dad's name was unusual. Augustus Iguanta Benton. No else had that name.

In about 10 anxious minutes, the boys and two police officers finally arrived at their destination. Officer Regery entered the house, knocking the door down flat. They had no proof, but Logan and James and Kendall were so sure that this was where Carlos was.

Turns out that they were right. Clyde Benton was sitting at the table drinking some hot soup, and sipping some hot water. He looked so innocent, as if he hadn't kidnapped Carlos. Maybe he hadn't, but signs pointed to him as the guilty one.

"Sir! Mr. Benton! You have been charged for the kidnap of Carlos Garcia. Put your hands up." Officer Jones ordered. Clyde put on a confused face.

"Sir? I don't know what-" He was cut off when Officer Jones put a gun in front of Clyde's face.

"Tell me where he is." He said in a menacing tone. Kendall even shuddered. Policemen could be super nice or super mean whenever they wanted. Clyde gulped, and James found that he loved seeing Clyde so vulnerable. Logan just hoped Carlos was here.

"D-down in the basement. Here, let me show you." Clyde quickly got up, eyeing the gun cautiously, and bent down and reached for a rug on the floor. He lifted the piece of cloth, and underneath was a door. A hidden door. Officer Regery quickly handcuffed Clyde and took him into the police car. Logan reached down and opened the door before any of them could react.

One by one, the boys and Officer Jones went down. In the small white room sat Carlos. He was huddled against a corner, and it looked like he had passed out. Logan felt the freezing cold wind blow on him first.

"It's s-so cold down here." Kendall said, shivering. James nodded. Logan wondered how Carlos could have lived inside here for... however long he was down here. Carlos's lips were purplish blue, and his skin had turned pale and a bit blue, too. Officer Jones lifted Carlos up carefully, and carried him back up. The other boys followed him out of the cold, cold room.

"Is he going to be okay?" Kendall and Logan asked at the same time. James just looked frozen in shock. How could this be happening to their best friend?

"I'm not sure. I'm not a doctor. I'm sorry." Officer Jones handed Carlos over to James, who was sitting on the wooden chair, not feeling strong enough to stand.

Logan suddenly thought of something. "Try to have him drink the hot water Clyde was sipping on. It helps him warm up." He said, quoting a medical book he had read a few months before.

James lifted the white glass cup of to Carlos's horribly blue lips. Kendall opened up his mouth and James poured a little at a time. Carlos's lips were still blue, but it had warmed up just a little bit.

It turned out that Officer Jones had called emergency, and the ambulances arrived. Logan went with Carlos because he was the most likely to know what disease Carlos had. If he had a disease.

Kendall and James sighed as they looked out the window in the backseat of the police car. Officer Jones sat between them, and Clyde Benton sat in the passenger seat. Officer Regery, the driver, quickly tried to comfort them. But his words seemed like nothing. They were drowned out by Kendall and James's concern for Carlos and their anger for Clyde.

**A/N- Carlos is okay? Yes? No? What do you awesomees think? Fastest update in a long time... nothing to do today.**

**Well, PLEASE review! I love your reviews, no matter how long or short! :)**


	17. End of the Story

_**Chapter 17**_

Carlos woke up surrounded by blurry faces and bright lights. _Am I dead?_ He asked himself. He knew he wasn't. Carlos blinked a few more times until his vision became clear again. He saw Kendall and James and Logan, and another person who still wasn't clear yet. Carlos blinked a few more times, and he realized that it was a doctor.

"Carlos! How ya feeling, buddy?" James asked, acting as if nothing had happened. Carlos bit his lip. What _had_ happened? What happened? How did he get in the hospital? He felt a little cold, but otherwise, he didn't feel any pain at all.

Then, the memories suddenly came back to them, crashing into him like a wave at the beach. The cold, Clyde, and... that was all he remembered before he ended up at the hospital.

"Okay." Carlos found his voice to be softer than it had ever been. He had always been told to speak quieter at museums and stuff like that, but his voice would always be louder than expected. But now, his voice was kind of soft. It sounded close to a whisper.

"You remember what happened?" Logan asked, worried that his younger friend might have had a memory loss. Carlos nodded.

"You g-g-guys came to save me?" Carlos found that it hurt to talk, and that he couldn't make his voice louder anymore. Did he have a sore throat or something?

The three boys and the doctor smiled. The doctor quickly scurried out of the room, giving the four boys privacy. "Yeah... you had a really nasty cold, and you were out for a few days." Kendall informed him.

"Out where?" Carlos asked quietly, confused.

Logan and James laughed. Kendall joined them after a few seconds of hesitation. "You were out mean that you were unconscious for a few days." Logan chuckled and Carlos just nodded.

"It almost turned into hypothermia, but it didn't." James said, looking relieved. Carlos just smiled and snuggled into his hospital blanket.

"Thanks, guys. You're heroes." He whispered, and in a few minutes he was asleep. The other three smiled and shook their heads slowly.

"Carlos _you're_ the hero." Kendall whispered as they quietly exited the room.

_line line line line_

The next day, Carlos returned home. The boys went out for corndogs, and they were glad that Carlos was almost back to normal. But they noticed that every little sudden movement scared their friend. His voice sounded so much softer and more cautious. He never screamed or yelled anymore. No one could tell why. His innocence had been ruined. Kind of.

He still had the enthusiasm for silly things, but this time, the guys were grateful for it. They would have died if Carlos had lost that, too.

One day, Carlos was sitting on their orange couch, thinking quietly to himself. He didn't know why so many things scared him now. He used to be practically fearless. But now, he was being a total wimp.

Carlos thought about everything that had happened. He wondered what Clyde was thinking about right at that moment. In jail, probably thinking about his daddy. Carlos kind of felt bad for Clyde. Sure, Clyde had bullied him and almost froze him to death, but he had feelings, too. And Carlos knew Clyde was saddened that dad was going to die. Carlos didn't want anyone to be sad. Not even Clyde.

Kendall walked out of the bathroom after taking a quick shower. He saw Carlos sitting alone by the couch, and sat down beside him. "Hey." Kendall said. Carlos just looked up and sighed.

"Kendall? I feel bad for Clyde." Carlos admitted softly. Kendall raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Really? Why is that?" He asked quickly, not wanting to have Carlos think he was calling his idea stupid or anything. Carlos shrugged.

"Well... his dad's going to die probably, and then Clyde's gonna be all sad, and that makes me sad too." Carlos told him. Kendall just smiled and wrapped an arm around the Latino.

"Carlos, don't worry. What Clyde did to you was horrible. He deserves whatever he gets. It's karma getting back at him." Kendall explained, hoping Carlos wouldn't pout over Clyde anymore. Clyde was supposed to be out of his life now. Carlos wasn't supposed to be feeling bad for him.

"But... but I want to help him." Carlos argued weakly. He knew that no one could argue with Kendall, because Kendall was just so... stubborn. He stuck to his idea, and would never do anything else after he set his mind on something.

"Carlos. This guy put you in a freezing room and hit you with a metal baseball bat. And you're saying you feel _bad_ for him?" Kendall asked, surprised. Carlos nodded. Kendall sighed.

"He's in jail now, and you can't get him out unless you pay money. And his dad has a lawyer who will defend Clyde's dad the best he or she can." Kendall assured him. Kendall didn't tell Carlos that there was no one left in Clyde's life to pay to get him out of jail. Also, the lawyer they got was probably the worst there was. But it didn't hurt to just keep that to himself, right?

Carlos seemed to relax after hearing these words, and he turned on the TV and watched SpongeBob Squarepants. Kendall smiled and watched the silly TV show with his best friend. Soon, James and Logan came back from wherever they were at. They sat in silence for about 10 minutes or so, until Carlos spoke up.

"Guys?" He whispered softly. It was as if he were afraid that his voice would break something in the room.

"What's up, buddy?" James asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

Carlos bit his lip and sighed. "I... I'm sorry I messed up everything." He admitted. It had been bothering him for some time now. He had ruined their dreams, and now they were all sad.

Logan's eyes softened. "Carlos. Listen to me. This was _not_ your fault. I mean, I don't even care about the useless scholarship anymore. I would rather just stay in Big Time Rush forever, and then be a hockey player with you guys. I wouldn't want to do anything alone." He told Carlos. And it was 100 percent, completely true. Logan felt lonely without his best friends and their stupid yet harmless pranks and plans.

Carlos just looked down at his feet. "Really?"

"Yep. And I don't want to be some stupid model. I want to keep 'The Face' to myself. I don't want people looking at it all day. Then my face would lose its specialness." James assured him. And he wasn't lying, either. He didn't want to share his face with anyone, except on Big Time Rush posters and stuff. It was selfish, but a good kind of selfish.

"And Jo and I are back together anyways, so I didn't lose anything." Kendall pointed out quickly. Carlos just smiled and nodded.

"None of this is your fault, Carlos. We were wrong." Kendall said. It was hard sometimes to admit that he was wrong, but this time, it wasn't. Because he _had_ been wrong. So wrong it had almost cost Carlos's life. That was too high a price to pay. Kendall Knight admitted that he was horribly wrong.

"I may have a pretty face, Carlos, but for the past few weeks, my heart wasn't pretty at all. My heart was ugly and black. I turned into a bully. A bully to my best friend since preschool. And I'm really sorry. So sorry I can't even express it in words." James told him. James pictured his black and ugly heart, and knew it would be a long time before the damage was completely gone.

"We are _really_ sorry, Carlos. We don't know what came over us. We were just... not thinking at all. We weren't smart about it. Not even me. We didn't mean any of it." Logan finished. Logan had thought that he could get straight A's for the rest of his life, but he was sure he had gotten an F on the subject of friendship.

"I know." Carlos replied. He _did_ know. His friends had forgiven him for whatever he had done. So Carlos forgave them, too.

As for Kendall, James, and Logan, they knew it would be a long time before they forgave themselves. They had shattered Carlos's precious innocence, and it would be a long time before they could earn it back. But they knew that when that innocence _did_ come back, they would never shatter it again.

**A/N- I think this is the end... Not kidding. It feels like I'm losing a huge part of my heart, but I know it's over. The story is over! I really hoped you enjoyed it, and I'm really sorry I gave you no hint to when it would end. Because... honestly? I didn't even know it would end! :)**

**And I'm going to start another story, probably! This is something like what the summary will be:**

**Truth or dare is a fun game. Until someone gets hurt. When the boys go on a camping trip, Logan faces a tragic accident that may change his life forever.**

**...So what do ya think? Good? Bad? I need to know your opinions! I'm going to start it soon if you all like it! Thanks a million!**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Loved all the reviews! Now, please, can we get to 200 reviews? For the story's sake? For **_**my**_** sake? 200?**

**I love this story, but it's time for it's end... so say goodbye to this story, everyone! I mean, you can still read it, but there'll be no more updates! :) Love ya all! This has been a great experience of mine's!**

**-Anonymous Skrtle**


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